A Fracture in the Shell
by vickyc123
Summary: A knock on the door brings up a hard past that Felicity has kept hidden, leaving her terrified of the effect it might have on the life she has built. Now she faces her ghosts as the team comes together to fight a new threat in the city, and she must find a way to stay strong and be there, as she always is, for Oliver, and learn to fight her own demons with his help. Olicity.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so this has been on my mind for a while. something abot Felicty's character and lack of explanations of her past made me wonder what kind of past I could make her, and how it would affect her and the team. **

**I really hope you like it, and I just want to say - this is the first chapter, so I open it with a lot of angst and looking into the past and not much action in the present, so please be patient - it'll come! This will also definitely be an Olicity fic, so you can look forward to some action there too ;)**

**Enjoy, and let me know what you think!**

_At night, when it's dark and I'm alone, I let myself think about her. In my own world I let myself cry, break down, feel the pain I harbor deep in my soul._

_With the morning comes the sun, and with it light that fills the shadows. The pain is pushed down, in a way forgotten for a while, covered with smiles, laughter, and the bright colors I love so much. I open up to the warmth of the sun and the good people around me._

_I think the reason I have so much belief in people, why I get so easily attached to them, is because I need to prove that my life does still have a purpose. I let myself have, love, and I hold on tightly to what I get._

_But in the dark, I let go of everything. I draw back into the memories that will always haunt me. I know they will never leave me – but as long as I can keep them under the surface, I know can live my life._

* * *

"Oliver, get out of there, now!" Felicity hissed furiously, watching with barely contained panic as the guards rounded the corner and positioned themselves next to the door he was currently behind, ready to barge in. "There are too many of them, you can't fight all of them. Oliver please, get out before you get hurt."

"Felicity-"

"No! You need to get out now. You have less than a minute. Don't be stupid, please, get out. We have all the proof we need."

She watched as he walked up to James Sanders' limp form, grabbing his shirt and yanking him up violently so they were face to face, "you are never going to touch any girl like that again, understand me? You will regret your actions," he growled, and then he tossed him back onto the floor. He turned to the window, jumping out and away from the range of the security cameras Felicity had been watching the fight through.

"He just had to add that last line there, didn't he? Couldn't just leave him there and go, right?" she muttered, amused if still worried about him.

"I can hear you, Felicity," he reminded her, and she made a face at Diggle who was sitting next her, chuckling. "Why don't you head home?" Oliver asked, "I'm not hurt, and you seem tired. We're done for the night, no need for you to stay there."

"You sure?" she asked, chewing the inside of her cheek. To be honest, she didn't want to leave. She loved the fact that she got to spend so many night working. It took her mind off everything else, and kept her away from the nightmares that plagued her every few nights.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Go, sleep a little." She looked at Diggle for assurance, and when he smiled encouragingly she nodded, getting up and stretching.

"Ok then," she said, "Goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess. I mean – I know, cause… I mean where else would I be, right? Anyways-" she took a deep, calming breath, "goodnight."

"Goodnight, Felicity," Oliver said, sounding amused. She rolled her eyes and took out her earpiece, setting it down on her desk.

She turned to Dig, already in the process of putting her coat on. "Bye Dig! See you tomorrow!" he waved back, smiling warmly.

"Bye, Felicity. Call if you need anything."

"You know I will," she answered, winking, and started up towards the stairs, doing her best to ignore the growing pit of dread in her stomach as it setteled down, weighing her down as she walked away.

* * *

An hour later, sitting in her comfortable pajamas on her couch and eating a slice of pizza, she found herself wanting to go back to the foundry and to Oliver. She needed it, needed the safety they provided, especially on a night like this. Outside her closed windows and curtains a storm raged, thunder rolled, and lightening cracked. She hated nights like these. They were especially difficult, and usually brought up the worst nightmares.

A flash of lightning outside caused her to jump, and against her will she was sucked back into that night, her mind conjuring the last picture she ever saw of _**her**__. Drenched brown hair, turned dark with the water and the blood. Big blue eyes, staring up at her in pain and shock. Small pale hands, reaching out for her, covered in blood and dirt, and then falling limp and cold to the flooded pavement._

With a gasp Felicity came back to reality, clutching the couch cushion tight to her chest and blinking hot tears out of her eyes. Her hands were shaking, the pizza now on the floor, and her head spun. If she closed her eyes she knew she would hear the steady patter of the rain outside, just like that night. If she opened them, she knew she would see the flashes of lightning slicing through the dark night, just like they had then. If she reached out her hand, she knew she would feel the emptiness, the cold, stretching out across her shaking palms as she attempted to hold on to her, so save her, and failed again.

With a shuddering breath she stood up, grabbed the pizza of the floor, and headed towards the kitchen. The thoughts swirled in her head, unwanted, the questions of what if, why and how.

In the months following that night she had been empty, a shell. She walked with no purpose, ignoring all safety and precaution, going out into the dark streets of Vegas late at night and daring any guy to try and touch her. She agreed to anything, spending money on worthless things and forgetting to buy what was important. That was how she found herself one day, sitting in an overheated tent with an old woman inspecting her hand curiously.

"You have suffered a great loss," the woman said in her raspy voice, turning her hand over and running her bony fingers over the lines in her skin. 'Yeah, no shit,' Felicity had thought, but didn't draw her hand away. "It was a hard night, one that left scars that will not heal for many years," the woman continued, bringing her sunken grey eyes to Felicity's. "On a night like the one that lost you what you cared for most you will get it back. On a night like that one, your scars will heal. Wait for it, and do not despair. Your life will be hard, but it will be good." Felicity just rolled her eyes. As impressive as that sounded, she probably used that line on almost all the fools who spend their money on her ridiculous advice. Then she had walked away, determined to never think about it again.

But now, eight years later, she did. She remembered that way her eyes had flashed as she spoke. "_On a night like that night." _ The words were ringing in her head, flashing before her eyes, and she shook her head violently to get rid of them. She was so lost in her thoughts, at first she failed to notice the soft knocks on her door.

Still shaking almost uncontrollably, she walked up to her door, took a deep breath to center herself, and pulled it open.

Her whole world stopped.

Her eyes registered the damp brown hair, hanging off the slim white face. The big blue eyes stared out at her, broken, a terrifying shadow of the eyes that plagued her dreams almost every damn night. She felt like she was drowning, her hand fell from the doorway to her side, hanging limply. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible. But it was there, the proof standing right in front of her.

"Mina?" she whispered brokenly, "How are you here?"

**And here it really starts...**

**Let me know what you thought and if I should continue this!**

**Love you all :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, what a great response to the first chapter! that was honestly more than I was expecting, so thank you! I'm glad you're all liking it so far...**

**So the second chapter continues with more angst and a little more insight into the past. Probably not as much as some of you hoped for, but I promise that will come next chapter...**

**I hope you like this one!**

_Previously on 'A fracture in the Shell' - _

_Still shaking almost uncontrollably, she walked up to her door, took a deep breath to center herself, and pulled it open. _

_Her whole world stopped. _

_Her eyes registered the damp brown hair, hanging off the slim white face. The big blue eyes stared out at her, broken, a terrifying shadow of the eyes that plagued her dreams almost every damn night. She felt like she was drowning, her hand fell from the doorway to her side, hanging limply. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible. But it was there, the proof standing right in front of her. _

_"Mina?" she whispered brokenly, "How are you here?"_

Felicity just stood and stared. Her fingers were numb; her eyes open wide, her mouth moving soundlessly, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. Tears ran from her eyes, a mirror to the eyes that stared back at her out of the white face that she hadn't seen for eight years. A strangled sob came from Mina's throat, and still neither moved. They just stood and stared.

Finally Mina moved, taking a tentative step towards Felicity.

"No!" the strangled cry that tore from her throat surprised even her, as did her body as it scrambled away from Mina even as her mind and heart protested at the distance. "Don't come any closer," she whispered, her voice cracking. Mina turned her big blue eyes at her, obviously shocked, but she made no move to come closer. "How the hell are you here? Is this a dream?"

"No," Mina said softly, "I'm really here."

"Impossible." Felicity shook her head frantically. "You- you're dead. I watched you die. I held your hand as you left me!" her head was spinning. Was this some kind of sick joke her mind was playing on her?

"I'm alive. I'm right here." Once again felicity shook her head, staring intently at the ground and running a hand through her hair. "Look at me! I am right here in front of you, Felicity!" the way her name rolled off Mina's tongue caused her to stiffen all over. It was so familiar, yet so completely strange. She said it like she knew it, yet the voice wasn't the same. No longer the voice of the child she had known, now the voice of a teenager, a young lady.

She looked up at her, and her breath caught in her throat as she took in the way she had grown. Her eyes were still just as big, but now they were darker, a deeper blue, and sadder. Oh so sad. Her mouth was still small and pink, but the corners seemed to droop, as if she was no longer physically able to smile as she once had every day. She was taller, and thinner, the chubbiness young children sometimes have long gone. But she was, without a doubt, Mina.

It was like a nightmare and a fantasy come together. Felicity had dreamt countless times of seeing her again, of holding her, of hearing her, of touching her again. But it had taken her so long to get over losing her. What if this wasn't real? She couldn't handle losing her again.

But she wanted, _needed_, to hold her again. Just one more time.

With halting movements she stepped closer, reaching out a shaking hand to touch her cheek. Mina raised her hand as well, meeting Felicity's in the air. A jolt of familiarity ran through her at the touch, and she shivered. And then Mina was raising her hands and bringing them to circle her neck, and she was suddenly all around her, all Felicity could see, smell, breathe… and it was too much. It made no sense, it was overwhelming her, pulling her under, until all she could take were shallow gasps of air. Mina tried to reach out for her, to help her, but Felicity tore away from her grasp. Without a word she stumbled away, out of her apartment, towards the stairs, doing all she could to just get away from her, from the madness. She could hear Mina calling for her but she kept running, still fighting for her breath as she reached the bottom of the stairs and stumbled out into the rain and the dark. She leaned against the wall heavily, letting her head fall as she gasped and dry heaved, and slowly she began to breathe again. Her blurry vision cleared, and she shakily picked herself up and stood. She had no idea what to do with herself.

"What I need right now is safety and normality," she whispered to herself, and with renewed determination she walked up to her car, opening it and finding the keys she kept in the glove compartment and starting the car. There was only one place she could go that provided both. She veered out of her parking spot and headed towards the foundry.

She could hear the clang of metal on metal as she walked in to the new foundry, a sign that Oliver was still there and obviously in the middle of a set on the salmon ladder.

Felicity was shivering, her clothes drenched and her body reacting to both the cold and the shock. She circled her body with her arms, suddenly not sure why she was here. She was dripping wet, wearing a pair of long leggings, an old oversized sweatshirt and worn sneakers. She was a mess. Oliver didn't need to deal with her; he had enough on his plate. Doubts ran through her head as her legs pushed her forward, towards the sound, and finally around a corner and into the new liar they had built.

All doubt faded from her mind when she saw Oliver. She needed him, her body practically vibrating with need for both his body heat and the comfort his presence alone already provided. She was standing in a shadow, and he hadn't noticed her yet. She watched as he reached the top, hanging on to the bar for a few seconds before dropping gracefully to the ground. She pressed her lips tightly together in an effort to stop herself from crying out. When he had his back turned to her she inched forward, hesitantly, until she couldn't hold back her fear and pain in any longer.

A desperate wail tore from her throat, muffled by her still sealed lips, but he heard her and spun around. She saw the panic and worries in his eyes as he took in her tiny, shivering form. "Felicity?" he asked, fear lacing his voice. She knew he was seeing a side of her he had never seen before, a side she had always hidden – the broken side, but she didn't care. She just stood there and watched him, silently letting the tears fall down her cheeks.

He recovered from the shock quickly, moving towards her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, brining her to sit down in her chair while he silently whispered the same two questions over and over again, "What's wrong, Felicity? How can I help you? Tell me how I can help you, Felicity…" she just sat there and shivered, looking up at him. He looked back down; his gaze steady if worried on hers, as he wrapped a warm wool blanket around her shoulders and knelt down next to her.

"Oliver…" she whimpered his name, and his hands came to cup her cheeks gently.

"What happened? Did someone hurt you?" all she could do was shake her head. "Then what's wrong? Tell me what's wrong so we can fix it." she tried to lower her gaze but he hooked his thumbs under her chin, effectively bringing her eyes back to his again. As she looked into them, something inside her broke.

A cry broke out from deep inside her chest, building up until it was a fully grown sob, and renewed tears began spilling down her cheeks. Within seconds her face was pressed against his chest. His very naked, very sweaty chest, a small part of her realized, but the rest of her was too comfortable to care. His hand found the back of her neck while his other stroked slowly over her hair, calming her. His movements were a little unnatural and hesitant, as if he wasn't sure how exactly to handle her, but he didn't let go and so she just held on tighter. He waited patiently for her to calm down, until her breaths slowed to occasional hiccups and her head fell against his shoulder once again. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically, but she knew that she would have to explain to him why she just had a meltdown on his shoulder.

As she pulled away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, he reached out to push a stray lock of hair away from her face. Her eyes met his once again, and she was surprised by the care and worry she saw in them.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, her voice still thick with the tears she had shed.

"Don't be. It's ok for you to cry once in a while. Everyone does it, even me." she looked up at him between wet eyelashes and gave him a small, broken smile. "Do you think you're ready to talk about whatever it is that caused that breakdown?" Oliver asked, understanding the difficulty of relaying something that had obviously shaken her up pretty badly. She nodded once, and then looked around the empty foundry.

"Do you mind calling Dig? I think it'll be easier to tell both of you at the same time." He nodded once, pursing his lips, obviously needing to get an explanation but not wanting to push Felicity past her limits. He stepped away from her, reaching out for the gym bag she left there and pulling out a pair of leggings, socks, a tank top and a sports bra and handing them to her silently, ignoring the flush that spread across her cheeks as she watched him. She took them quickly and stepped away into another room and changed as fast as she could, all the while wondering what the hell had just happened. Oliver had just hugged her. Oliver had just held her as she broke down.

When she stepped back out, rubbing her bare arms against the cold, she found him pacing, phone in hand. His eyes softened when he saw her.

"Hey. You okay?" he asked gently, and she nodded silently, still shivering slightly but now against the cold. Without a word he picked up a grey sweatshirt and handed it to her. When she hesitated, noticing it was his, he sighed and wrapped it around her shoulders. "You're cold, take it and don't ask questions," he said, and she finally cracked a grateful smile.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and he nodded.

"You're welcome. Why don't you sit down and get comfortable? Diggle's on his way."

Felicity was sitting in her chair, Oliver leaning against her desk, when Dig got there. He took one look at her and gave her an encouraging smile, then met Oliver's gaze and stayed there. She could tell they were doing the 'conversation without words' thing, and she huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Do you guys wanna hear what happened tonight or not?" they both turned to her immediately, their eyes turning expectant as they gave her a free pass to start talking. She took a deep breath to calm down and collect herself, and then she started talking.

"I saw someone today. A ghost from my past, someone I was sure was dead." Both of them raised their eyebrows at her and she could see the millions of questions running through their minds, but they stayed silent. When the words got stuck in her throat Dig took the lead, asking gently, "Who was this someone?"

"Her name is Mina."

"How old is she?"

"16."

"When was the last time you saw her?" Oliver asked, coming to stand in front of her. She took a deep, shuddering breath.

"8 years ago. The night she died in my arms… or the night I _thought _she died." They both nodded almost at the same time, an act she usually made fun of them for, but at the moment she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Who is she to you?"

Felicity stared at the ground, not wanting to answer. Telling them meant letting them into a whole world she had vowed never to let anyone know about.

"Felicity," Oliver urged gently, "who is she to you?" she looked up into his eyes, blue meeting blue in a special (but not rare by any means) moment of understanding and comfort, and she nodded tightly, swallowing heavily.

"She's my half-sister."

**So now at least you know a ****_little _****more about Mina...**

**The whole story behind her will come next chapter. **

**I hope you liked this one, and let me know what you thought ;)**

**Love you all :) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Annnnnnnd chapter 3! I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter, and I hope this one answers a lot of questions you might have asked yourselves about Felicty's past. **

**I really hope you enjoy this! **

_Previously on 'A fracture in the Shell' - _

_"Who is she to you?"_

_Felicity stared at the ground, not wanting to answer. Telling them meant letting them into a whole world she had vowed never to let anyone know about. _

_"Felicity," Oliver urged gently, "who is she to you?" she looked up into his eyes, blue meeting blue in a special (but not rare by any means) moment of understanding and comfort, and she nodded tightly, swallowing heavily._

_"She's my half-sister."_

"My mom was your typical Vegas showgirl. She made just enough money to keep us both going, and we lived mostly on favors from friends - this one gave us new clothes, this one home schooled me... But eventually, around when I turned 5 or 6, she had enough of living on nothing.

"She started dating around, taking every man with money who showed interest. She went from guy to guy, taking her little fortune from every man she left. At the time I was too young to understand and question what she was doing, but today, looking back, I'm disgusted." Felicity looked down at the floor, refusing to meet Oliver's or Dig's eyes. She was ashamed, and she didn't want to know what they were probably thinking just then, but she took another deep breath and continued.

"One of those guys was a wealthy man named Jared Noels. He stayed longest – almost a whole year. I was 7 when my mom first brought him home. He was nice to me, he spoiled my mom and gave her anything she wanted in return for sex. He turned her into his own private, pampered whore," she spat angrily. "But she was happy, we had food, clothes and money to live on, she was free from me because I could go to school, and so it went on like that for a little less than a year. Right around my 8th birthday is when things started falling apart." She shivered, her arms unconsciously wrapping around her middle. Both Oliver and Dig noticed her reaction, and Oliver came to stand next to her and put a steady hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him gratefully, leaning slightly into his touch, and used it to muster the strength to keep talking.

"I was, back then, tall for my age. People always told my mom how pretty I was, how mature I was for my age, how much older I looked than I really was. Jared started noticing too." Oliver's hand tightened on her shoulder as he realized where this was going, and Dig's eyes hardened in anger.

"He started paying more attention to me, buying me treats, games, clothes… my mom noticed, but she figured he had just started liking me and connecting to me a little more. I mean, how was she supposed to know he was a maniac, she was no mind reader or fortune teller – although she did once pretend to be one to get some money-"

"Felicity," Oliver interrupted her starting ramble gently.

"Right. Anyways, it ended with him trying to… you know," she fiddled with the hem of the sweatshirt, "he touched me one night… I don't know exactly what he was trying to do, just that it scared the hell out of me and made me uncomfortable. At one point he actually hurt me."

Oliver swore under his breath, "that son of a bitch!"

"Anyways!" Felicity said again, eager to move on, "when he hurt me I cried out and my mom came. She was furious, and she kicked him out and we never saw him again. But by then she was pregnant with his child, and six months later she gave birth to my new sister, Mina."

Felicity could remember meeting Mina for the first time well. She was a small little thing, with big blue eyes and a little button nose. She looked just like Felicity did when she was a baby, save for one small detail – her mouth was a deep shade of red that stood out on her tiny face, big lips that immediatly caught your attention, while Felicity's had been small and pink and soft since she had been born. Felicity fell in love with her immediately.

"My mother hated her. To her she was a constant reminder of the life she could have had with a man who had money. One night she lost it, yelling at me and blaming me for making her kick Jared out. With no money she knew no happiness, and she started tumbling down. She began drinking, smoking, doing drugs. She befriended a few guys from a street gang that hung around our area and from that moment she was never home.

"I was forced to raise Mina practically alone. I'm sure we were quite the sight, an eight year old pushing a newborn baby around musty streets, buying her diapers and clothes and feeding her. But I didn't mind. I was so enchanted by her… I loved her, she was the only real family I had left after my mom cracked. She quickly became everything to me, my whole world evolving around her." The tears started slipping down her cheeks again and she swatted them away furiously, sick of crying.

"It all started when Mina was about 7 and I was 15. Rather than leaving the house for the streets, my mom brought the streets to the house. One day these big, scary guys started coming in, with these huge crates and leering eyes. I was a teenager back then, I was growing, and they didn't hesitate to make suggestive comments about me when they saw me. I told my mom, but she ignored me. She said that from now on a lot of people would be coming here, and that if Mina and I couldn't handle it we should move out." She brought her thumb to her mouth, chewing it as she remembered those months.

"I didn't trust those guys coming in, but I still wanted to trust my mom. I mean, she was the only parent I had left, and that was something I needed to hold on to. So we stayed. It went on for a few months, until one night I found Mina with a bag of white powder in her hands." She shivered at the memory, and she knew Oliver and Dig understood what it was even without her saying it, but she explained anyways, "apparently she got it out of one of the many crates they had brought into our home. They were full of them. Illegal drugs. I went through all the crates in the house that night, and that wasn't all I found." Oliver's hand suddenly shot out and took hers away from her mouth. With a jolt she realized she had chewed away the skin on her thumb, and his fingers ran over the bitten skin soothingly while he nodded his head to tell her she should continue. "I found a ton of guns and weapons. Handguns, knives… they were dealing with stolen weapons and drugs, and their base of operations was our home. That night I packed mine and Mina's bags and left.

"For a few months Mina and I lived out in the streets. We found a woman who used to perform with my mom, and every day she would pass by with food, water, and a new set of clothes. I knew they were probably stolen, but we needed them. I had no choice," she said, suddenly feeling the weight of what she was saying. She was describing her world of crime to two of the strongest crime fighters she knew. But Oliver's hand and Dig's understanding eyes made her feel safe and secure and she kept on talking, "then one night, everything started collapsing under my feet.

"It was a cool night, and I could tell a storm was coming. Mina and I needed a place to stay. She was barely 8, a child, she couldn't handle a storm, and I was 16 – I couldn't take care of her if she got hurt or sick. I went back home. I wanted to tell my mom that she should take only Mina, that I would be okay. I knew she wouldn't want to see us. What I wasn't expecting her to do was attack us the minute she saw us. She was screaming at us to get out – I could tell she was completely charged on drugs and probably alcohol, but then she crossed the line. She grabbed a gun out of one of the crates and just started shooting in our direction. She was frantic. So I ran with Mina, got her away, and did the only thing I could do – I went to the police station. I told them everything. I… I betrayed her. I betrayed my mom's trust," she gasped, blinking against her blurry vision.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault. You did the right thing, telling them," Dig said gently. Felicity just shook her head, and kept talking.

"They said that too. They said it would be ok, that I was brave for telling them, and then they decided that they would have to take over the apartment to stop the business. They spent 2 nights devising a plan, based on my knowledge of how the business worked. The night of the takeover came. The storm had hit full force, but they said it was better because they wouldn't hear them coming." Her whole body was shaking. "They brought me and Mina as close as they could, a few blocks away, because I insisted on being there. God, I was so stupid… why? Why did I have to insist on it?" she asked brokenly, and Oliver squeezed her hand while Dig's hand came to rest on her knee reassuringly. "It started out fine. I could hear the cops saying they were in, they were handling it… and then the gunshots sounded.

"Over the rain I could hear screams, and all I could think of was that it was my mom, it had to be. Someone was firing a gun randomly, and I was so worried about her - so I left Mina and ran past the policemen towards the streets. I found my mom, she was okay, lying on the ground and trying to shield herself from the gunshots. She screamed for me, and I went to her. Because she was my mom. Some guy was still firing everywhere, but now it was closer, right next to us. I tried to get my mom out… and suddenly Mina was there.

"She started helping me, dragging my mom with me to safety. I was pushing her into a nearby building when Mina suddenly fell to the ground next to me. I was so busy with my mother, at first I didn't even notice. Once we were inside I put her down on the ground. The gunshots stopped. There was just silence – and then I realized that Mina wasn't with me." she curled into a ball, trying to keep the sobbing at bay so she could finish, "I found her lying outside on the ground in the rain. The water around her had turned red with the blood that was oozing out of the wound in her stomach. She looked up at me then, noticing me. She was so scared," Felicity whimpered.

"I held her hand. I begged her to stay. I put her head in my lap, I told her to wait, that the policemen were already calling an ambulance. But it was no use. I had left her, and then she left me. She went limp in my arms; I practically felt the life go out of her. I couldn't handle it. I kissed her forehead one more time, and then I got up and ran. I thought I lost her, that I would never see her again. And then tonight, my sister – my dead sister – showed up at my door. What do I do now?" she asked desperately, looking back up at them, "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

* * *

Apparently telling the story had really drained her, because the next thing she knew she was waking up on the couch in the lair. She must have cried herself to sleep, she realized, and how did she get here? The last thing she remembered was sitting in her chair while Oliver held her hand and Dig whispered soothing words. Maybe she was sleep walking now. Great. Yet another source of interruption to her sleep, just what she needed-

"You're awake." Oliver's voice snapped her out of her inner rambling. He came to lean against the wall opposite her, arms crossed over his chest, and just stood there looking at her.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. I mean, I didn't even notice when I fell asleep, I guess I was just so tired, wow. Did you or Dig carry me here? Oh god, that's kinda embarrassing… um, why are you staring at me?" the words spat out of her mouth with no breath between them, and he raised his eyebrows at her and tilted his head.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the question came out quietly, yet the gentle tone he used was enough to make her eyes slam shut. He was looking at her with understanding, an honesty she felt she didn't deserve.

"I- I didn't want you to worry about me, you have so much going on like all the time and I just… I felt that I needed to be there for you, to help you, and not to wait for your help. You save so many people every night, Oliver. _We _save so many people. I can't afford to need saving when this is what we do. The city needs us."

"Yeah, and I need you." She looked up at him questioningly. "Do you really think I could do all this without you? Go out there every night, fight, without knowing that you're watching over my back?" he stood straight, towering over her. "I need to know that you're behind me. I need to know that you can help me, and be there with me, like you always are. I need your help - I have from the very beginning. I needed saving, and you were there, and because of that we can do what we do today and save lives. Because you were able to save me, and you save me still, every night. There's nothing wrong with needing to be saved, Felicity. If I had known I would have done everything in my power to help you, and I know Diggle would have to. I just wish you had told me… I could have been there for you like you are for me. I could have helped you." He lowered his head, and she could see the guilt that was nagging at him. She looked at him in bewilderment.

"Oliver," she said gently, "you _did _save me. You gave me a purpose – something to live for. You gave me another goal to build my life around, you taught me so much about what being strong means, and I took what I learned from you and turned it into a way to forget, to make the past the past and build a future." She got up and went to place her hand on his forearm, looking at his face, waiting for him to meet her eyes and to see how honest she was being. "Thanks to you I built a life that I could live in with secrets, with my demons, and still feel that I am doing good in this world."

He looked up at her then, and his hands came up to grasp her shoulders gently. "But you aren't supposed to be burdened with secrets and demons. I could have carried them with you." Felicity grabbed on to his wrists gently.

"Oliver, they aren't yours to carry, they're mine. That's exactly why I kept them mine."

"Yes, but you're mine. You're my girl, remember? I need you, I need your trust and your advice and your help and your company, and I need to be able to help you. You kept this whole thing quiet and to yourself until now, but now that I know – it's mine too." He lowered his face so it was inches from hers, their eyes level. Her breath caught in her throat at the intensity that burned in his. "You're not doing this alone anymore. Whatever it is that's going to happen now, it's happening to you, me and the rest of the team. I promise to help you every step of the way. We're doing this together, okay?"

She swallowed heavily, unable to look away from the burning blue eyes staring into hers.

"Okay."

**I hope you liked this! As you can tell, I gave more than just Mina's story, I also told you a lot about Felicity's life. **

**I know a lot of you must be waiting for more action to start taking place, but there really needed to be explanations first... Now that we got that out of the way, the next chapters will be more eventful.**

**Let me know what you thought of this one ;)**

**Love you all :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 :)**

**Thank you guys so much for the response to this story, this is way more than I expected, and I'm glad you're enjoying it.**

**Hope you like this one too, a lot more action takes place here ;)**

"You don't have to be here right now, Felicity."

"I know, Oliver, but I really need a change of clothes, and a shower, god I need that. I feel disgusting. Is it normal to feel like that after having a meltdown? I feel like I just hiked for hours with no water in a burning dessert. Not something I would ever recommend, by the way, I mean – talk about torture, right? Oh god, I should not have said that next to you should I? I am so sorry! God, what was I thinking? I should really stop talking, like, now. Gonna stop talking in 3… 2… 1…" Felicity shut her mouth, refusing to look at him as she climbed up the stairs towards her apartment on shaky legs. She heard his amused sigh from behind her but she kept walking, rolling her eyes.

When she reached the door she faltered. It was closed, which was surprising, because she didn't remember closing it in her hurry to leave the night before. Her hands shook a little at her sides but she curled them into fists, refusing to fall back into the despair that had gripped her the night before. As Oliver came to stand next to her she turned to him, silently asking him to help her. He looked at her for a moment, and then with a small sigh and a nod he reached for the handle and opened the door. It swung open with a creak, hiding the catch in her breath as she watched the familiar settings appear in front of her. Oliver went to step in but she stopped him with a firm hand on his arm.

"Wait. Let me go in first." He started to protest, but she cut him off, "the worst thing we could find there now would be my sister, Oliver. _My sister_. Not a threat, not someone who would try to hurt either of us."

"Maybe not intentionally, but she seemed to have hurt you pretty bad last night when you appeared in front of me shaking and sobbing," he said, scrubbing a hand over his face. She reached for his hand, squeezing gently.

"You helped me deal with it yesterday, and you're here now. If anything happens, I know you can help me again, ok? I trust you, and I need to trust her, so please… let me go in first." He looked at her, meeting her definite gaze and the stubborn set of her jaw, and she saw the reluctance in him. She knew she had scared him last night, fallen apart for the first time and he had to learn how to pick up the pieces, but she meant what she said. She knew he would help her, and she knew that she had to walk in first; no matter how likely it was that Mina was still there. "Please," she whispered again, and she watched as the fight left him and his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"Fine. Go on," he said quietly, gesturing for her to walk past him. She gave a small smile and moved to walk in, but at the last minute she turned around towards him and gave him a, tentative kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered, and then turned around and walked into the apartment, not giving him time to answer.

She walked around the apartment slowly, taking in every little detail. Nothing seemed to have changed. Nothing seemed out of place. The stain on the floor was still there from when she had dropped her pizza. She walked into every room. It was empty. She released a breath she didn't realize she was holding and loosened muscles she hadn't meant to lock.

"It's all empty, no sign of her here," she told Oliver unnecessarily, but he nodded anyways to show her he agreed.

"Come on, get your things and we'll go."

"Go? Where?"

"You're not staying here again."

"What? Why not?" she asked, her voice rising. "This is my home; you can't just kick me out of it!"

"Felicity!" he scrubbed a hand over his face again, a gesture of exhaustion he had made a lot since she had first found him in the morning, sitting on a chair near the couch she was sleeping on. "I'm not trying to kick you out; I'm trying to help you! Your sister knows where you live. I understand we aren't looking at her as a threat, but she still isn't someone we can completely trust. Just 24 hours ago you thought she was dead, Felicity!" he said, his voice rising too.

"I don't see how that connects to my home?"

"She has been hiding from you for 8 years. There's still too much that we don't know about her. I know she's your sister," he said quietly, his voice taking a more gentle tone, "but she can't be trusted until we figure out why she's here at least, okay? So can you please just trust me when I tell you that it's safer if you don't stay here for the next few days?" she started to interject but he held up his hand, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, they were pleading. "Trust me, Felicity."

Something inside her cracked and without noticing it she was already nodding. "Okay, Oliver. I trust you." He released a breath and his head fell back a little, the stiffness leaving his posture.

"Okay, good. Then can you please go and get your things? Pack for a few days, get everything you need. I'll be waiting right here."

She nodded mutely, questions running through her mind at the desperation she saw in his eyes, and the exhaustion, but she knew better than to ask. Without a word she stepped into her room and started packing.

* * *

3 days went by and nothing happened. The new foundry was inside an abandoned building, and with the help of Dig and Oliver she made herself a nice comfy place to stay in one of the empty rooms, right next to the room Oliver now slept in.

Laurel came by when she heard Felicity had moved into the foundry to ask what was going on, and in hushed tones Oliver had explained shortly what had happened and why she had moved. Felicity still wasn't sure what to think of Laurel knowing, and she knew the other woman wasn't sure what to make of the girl Oliver spent practically all his time with. But when Laurel heard what had happened, how her dead sister suddenly came back, older and changed, it was one thing she could relate to. She had also lost a sister and found her again, and she could sympathize with the confusion Felicity was feeling.

This was how Felicity found herself that third day, sitting with Laurel in a café in the evening and telling her stories about Mina while the other woman listened and smiled with her. As they talked, Felicity realized why Oliver was so taken by Laurel. She was caring, understanding, made her smile, and of course – she was beautiful. But Felicity couldn't bring herself to be jealous, because she knew better than anyone that Laurel was far from perfect, and she knew Oliver had come to see that a while ago.

They left the café at around 10 pm, and headed towards Laurel's apartment building which was nearby and where Felicity had parked her car. As they walked the tension Felicity had gotten used to feeling came back a little, but she ignored it and did her best to keep the conversation flowing. They were rounding a dark corner when the figure landed out of nowhere right behind them.

"Put your hands in the air and come over here nicely if you want to live!" he barked, pointing a gun at their faces. He was dressed all in black including a ski mask on his face, blending so perfectly into the night she almost couldn't see him. As she looked around she realized he wasn't the only one they had missed – 3 more guys circled around them, effectively blocking any escape rout. Felicity felt Laurel tense beside her but she knew that there was no way they could fight off all of them; not when they were 4 against 2 and all had guns.

"Hands in the air and come here!" another yelled, and she jumped as she felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of her head. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Laurel had a gun to hers too. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest and her head felt light with fear. She had no idea why they would need them, why they would want them, but she knew that they were helpless unless by some miracle Oliver, Dig or Roy could help them, and they were training.

Laurel gave a sudden yelp and she turned to see them holding her down, her hand locked behind her back as she struggled to get away.

"Let her go!" she said, her voice surprisingly steady, but it was no use and even as she spoke one of the men moved to hold Laurel down, effectively trapping her on the floor. Felicity heard a small whimper of pain, and her eyes blurred with tears as she realized how helpless she was. "Stop it, why are you doing this?"

"Stop talking!" one of them barked.

"No! What do you want from us? What do you need, tell me and I'll give it to you, please!"

"Shut her up," he growled, and suddenly there were strong hands wrapping around her shoulders.

"No!" she cried, but a hand came to rest against her mouth and muffled her pleas. She thrashed and kicked, trying to get away, but she knew it was hopeless. The man holding her was decidedly bigger that her, stronger than her, and he obviously had no problem holding her down, but she fought anyways, desperate to get away. As she watched, the men picked Laurel up, dragging her towards a van Felicity could see parked in the dark.

In a hysterical attempt to get a way she bit on her captors fingers, and was surprised to feel his arms loosen and hear his yelp of pain. She knew she only had a few seconds, and she used them to bring back the training she had with Dig to bring her elbow straight into his stomach and stomp her heel on his foot, hard. His yowl of pain was enough for her to scramble out of his grasp and for a few seconds she felt like she had a chance.

But then the few seconds ended, and were replaced with pain as her head was yanked back with a hand in her ponytail. "You bitch!" the guy growled, yanking her back so hard she stumbled and fell painfully on her back, sprawling on the ground. The guy towered over her, and in the dark his eyes sparkled with anger beyond the mask he was wearing. She tried to move but her back protested as she felt the skin stretching where it had torn when she landed, and she fell back with a gasp of pain. She could feel glass on the ground digging into her back even further. "You will regret that," he said, bending down and straddling her legs, trapping them under his body.

"Get off me you moron!" she yelled, and instantly regretted it as his eyes hardened. His hand cracked across her face with a force that made her head roll back and tears spring into her eyes.

"What did you call me, bitch?" he asked, bending down so his breath flew across her face. She pushed away, trying to get as far as possible from him, but he grabbed her face in his hands, punching it one more time so hard she hit the ground painfully. Everything turned black for a second, and then he was forcing her to look at him.

"What're you doing back there, man? Get her over here!" she heard the yell from the man holding Laurel, but the guy didn't move.

"One second!" he yelled back, sliding his hands down her face, over her neck, and slowly towards the neckline of her shirt. Felicity froze in fear, her body going rigid as his fingers slid deftly under the fabric, touching the bare skin just under her collarbone, and she shuddered with disgust. "You're lucky you're so pretty," he said quietly, "otherwise I would have-"

He stopped abruptly, freezing for a moment with his mouth still open, and then fell down on top of her, still and limp. Felicity scrambled to get him off of her, tears of pain and relief streaming down her face. A knife was buried deep in the back of his neck, blood oozing out of the wound.

As she looked up towards the van where she knew Laurel was she noticed a slim figure standing on the low roof of a building next to them. As she watched, the figure, obviously female, drew her hand back and tossed something down at the man outside the van. A whoosh sounded and a second later the man fell to the ground, and Felicity could see the knife sticking out of his upper back.

On shaky legs she headed towards the van, and when she reached it she opened the door slowly, peeking in. Immediately the guy in the front looked up at her, and when he realized she was alone he jumped out of his seat towards her, grabbing her arm and muttering, "what the hell are you doing here alone?"

The second he saw his guys laying in a pool of their own blood he pushed her away, tensing, reaching for his gun. "Who's there?" he asked, looking around cautiously. "I'm warning you, I'm armed."

"So am I," came a voice from behind them, and they both whirled just as the young woman drew her hand back and flung her knife, landing it directly over his heart. "Get the other guy out here so I can take him," the woman ordered, and Felicity froze, noticing something eerily familiar in her voice. "Do it!" she urged, and Felicity snapped back into action, reaching out and banging on the door of the van twice and hoping that would bring the guy out. They heard shuffling and then the door slid open, revealing him.

"Everything okay?" the man asked, but he never got the chance to find out as a fourth knife flew from the woman's hand and sunk into his chest. Felicity gasped, turning wide eyes on the woman, but she was already turning away, blending into the shadows of the night. She saw the white mask covering more than half of her face, rather like Isabel Rochevs had when she had fought, but this mask was far more elegant, wrapping around soft features.

"Get your friend out and call your hero, he can help you from here."

"Which hero are you talking about?"

"You know which one," her voice was low and quiet, her body almost completely turned away from Felicity's as if ready to bolt.

"How do you know about my connection to the arrow?" Felicity asked, watching as the woman began slipping away from her, taking in her small, lithe form, dressed in tight black pants and a black t-shirt.

"It doesn't matter; all you need to know is that you need to call him. You're not safe out here alone." She turned and walked away, leaving Felicity standing there with a million questions and feelings nagging at her. She watched as she climbed up a fire escape of a building towards its roof. Right before she reached the top a flash of light illuminated her back and she saw the upside down white V set across the back of her shirt and the brown hair, stunningly and achingly familiar, and then she was gone, disappeared into the night.

* * *

By the time Felicity got herself and Laurel into her car she could barely see straight through the pain. When she found Laurel in the van she was bound and gagged, the cloth around her mouth soaked in something Felicity couldn't identify that had obviously knocked her out. Ignoring her aching back she had dragged Laurel out and walked with her towards her car with Laurel's body slung over her shoulder in a way that avoided contact with her injured back but drained the energy out of her very quickly.

She knew she had to get Laurel into the car so she could take her to the foundry where Oliver and Dig could make sure she was okay. None of them were answering their phones, obviously too busy training, but she knew Oliver would never forgive himself if Laurel got hurt because he didn't answer his phone, so with determination she got her to the car and lay her down before collapsing into the driver's seat.

She took a few seconds to center herself and breathe deeply. Her head was light and fuzzy, pain sliced through it from the point she had banged on the floor, her face hurting where she had been slapped and punched, and she could feel the back of her shirt was soaked with blood oozing out of the scratches and cuts in her back when she had fallen hard on the glass filled ground. But she had to get Laurel to Oliver. She _had_ to.

"You can do this," she whispered to herself, reaching for the keys in her pocket and starting the car, ignoring the pain and focusing on getting back to the foundry.

She drove slowly, stopping twice because of a bout of dizziness and once to retch with pain after the seat dug so painfully into her back she could barely see a thing anymore, but somehow she got to the foundry without crashing.

Once again she dragged Laurel out and tossed her body over her shoulder, the other woman's decidedly longer body making it difficult to balance, especially with the growing pains in her head and back. She stumbled out and into the building, listening for the sounds of the 3 guys training and heading on trembling feet towards it.

She walked through the door to the main room where the medical supplies were and the boys were training, gasping for air, and looked up just in time to see the 3 shirtless men turning to look at her.

All at once they jumped towards her, making her dizzy and her ears pop till she couldn't hear what they were saying. She barely felt as they lifted Laurel off her, and she barely heard as they all asked her what happened, if she was ok. The world narrowed down to what was right in front of her, and she saw Oliver step into her field of vision, his mouth moving as he asked her something she couldn't hear.

"Don't worry about me, take care of Laurel," she tried to sound firm and sure, but it came out barely a breathy whisper. Then the world turned black and she felt herself falling. Somewhere far away she felt strong arms band around her and hold her, but she was too far gone to hold back. She just let herself fall into nothing.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**Pleaaasssee let me know what you thought! ;)**

**Love you all :) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5!**

**This chapter was just so annoying to write. It just refused to form into words for me, it drove me crazy, and I hope the final product is satisfying. **

**So I've tried something different in this chapter. Because the story is told in a third person pov language with the focus on Felicity, I figured I could do the same with Oliver, especially because a lot of people wanted to see how he would react. **

**So most of this chapter is sort of from his pov, until the last scene or so. **

**Another thing - I was asked by one reviewer to sort of add Roy into this chapter and I was more than happy to cause I love him, so I hope you enjoy a look into his character with Felicity too! **

**Also, Mina isn't in this chapter nor is she mentioned. I promise everything will come together soon, but I felt that this chapter was necessary as a sort of preview to everything we find out next chapter.**

**Hope you like this!**

_Previously on 'A Fracture in the Shell'-_

_She walked through the door to the main room where the medical supplies were and the boys were training, gasping for air, and looked up just in time to see the 3 shirtless men turning to look at her. _

_All at once they jumped towards her, making her dizzy and her ears pop till she couldn't hear what they were saying. She barely felt as they lifted Laurel off her, and she barely heard as they all asked her what happened, if she was ok. The world narrowed down to what was right in front of her, and she saw Oliver step into her field of vision, his mouth moving as he asked her something she couldn't hear._

_"Don't worry about me, take care of Laurel," she tried to sound firm and sure, but it came out barely a breathy whisper. Then the world turned black and she felt herself falling. Somewhere far away she felt strong arms band around her and hold her, but she was too far gone to hold back. She just let herself fall into nothing. _

Oliver wasn't sure how he reached her in time. One second he was asking her if she was okay, and the next he was holding her limp body in his arms as she fell.

"Felicity?" he asked desperately, "wake up!" he set her down on the ground, checking for a pulse at her wrist while he grabbed her face, touching her cheek. "Felicity, come on! Diggle, get over here, now!" Diggle turned from Laurel then, and Oliver saw the fear and worry in his eyes go up a notch as he realized Felicity had passed out too.

"Get her over here," he ordered, handing Laurel to Roy who took her to the couch and set her down. Oliver picked her up gently, carrying her to the med bay. As he set her down his arm brushed her back, and he froze when he felt the slick hot wetness on it.

"What the hell?" he muttered, taking a step back and looking her over from head to toe. Her hair was pulled out of its ponytail, and blood coated the back of her head. Her face had a nasty bruise on one side of it, and on the other side there was an angry red handprint that made his chest swell with anger. There were the few bruises that indicated an obvious fight she was in. Diggle fussed around her, checking her pulse and parting her hair to find the cut that was bleeding.

"I think she must have a minor concussion," Dig said, reaching for the suturing kit. "It's a good thing she collapsed; at least she won't feel it when I put the stitches in." Oliver nodded mutely, still staring at her still form. He looked down at his arm again, noticing the thick crimson liquid running down it, and with a jolt he realized that it had come from her back.

"Can you stitch her up in a different position? I need to be able to get to her back," he told Diggle quietly, and without a word the other man gently tipped her over until she was lying on her stomach. Oliver watched as Diggle moved a tender hand to Felicity's face, adjusting the angle so he could reach the cut and her face didn't lay smashed against the cold metal table.

Oliver came forward and reached hesitantly for the hem of her shirt. Just as he had hooked his fingers into it and began pulling it up Roy's voice sounded across the room, "hey guys, she's moving a little, I think she's waking up."

"Huh?" Oliver asked jumping up to look at Roy, and with a jolt he remembered that Laurel had been injured too – hell, the mental picture of Felicity carrying her limp body was now probably going to stay engraved into his mind forever. But he realized that it wasn't because Laurel was hurt – the moment he had seen her he could tell she was just knocked out, she wasn't even bruised that badly. It would stick to his mind forever because he had watched his little blond IT girl literally _carry _Laurel, one of the key people in his life, on her back, almost as if she was carrying the burden Laurel came with in his life for him.

A groan snapped him out of his thoughts and his eyes focused back in on Laurel, who was moving restlessly on the couch.

"Get her some water and wait for her to wake up," he ordered Roy, turning his attention back to Felicity. He had wasted enough time, he needed to start working.

His hands reached out and pulled her shirt up, pulling on it where it had stuck to the dry blood, and his whole body went into automatic actions, taking a cloth and a bowl of water and dipping it in, cleaning the wounds around her back as quickly as possible so he could asses the damage. His hands worked without him ordering them to, scraping off dry blood and pressing bandages to wounds that were still open, and for that he was grateful. It was so much easier to get the job done without his mind and his worry getting in the way, and while he could separate his actions from his thoughts he could work faster. And he needed that. He couldn't afford to think, not yet – not until he was sure Felicity was ok.

Soon he had cleaned every wound and stopped the blood from flowing. Now that her back was clean, he could finally see the cuts and bruises lining it, as well as the pieces of glass sticking out of it. He could tell none of the cuts were fatal or especially dangerous, but he knew that even the smallest scratch or bruise on the lower back could be incredibly painful, and he grit his teeth in anger and guilt as he realized the amount of pain she must have been in.

"Damn it all what happened there?!" he bit out, reaching angrily for a pair of tweezers and a cloth to put the shards of glass in. he forced himself to be gentle as he picked the pieces out of her skin, not wanting to hurt her any further, but his body was vibrating with anger and frustration at the situation.

Diggle looked up at him, finished with her head. "I don't know, man. But whatever it is, she'll be okay. They both will. Look, Laurel's already awake, and I know Felicity will wake up soon." Oliver's head jerked up.

"Laurel's awake?"

"Yeah, she woke up a few minutes ago." Diggle frowned. "She called for you, but I figured you were too focused to answer and go to her. Did you seriously not notice it at all?"

"No," Oliver answered, already headed towards Laurel. He found her half sitting on the couch, Roy wrapping a bandage around her wrist. He was still angry, but he forced a fake smile on his face to make her feel better and knelt down next to her.

"Laurel. How are you feeling?"

"Ollie." She looked up at him, smiling vibrantly. "I'm fine. Diggle says that I probably sprained my wrist, but it should be better in a few days. Other than that, I really am ok, besides being a little shaken up. I was so scared when they attacked me, Ollie! I tried to fight them, but they took me down and knocked me out, they were so much stronger than me-"

"Laurel, it's ok, I get it." Olive silenced her, not missing the way she had said 'me' and failed to mention that Felicity was attacked too. "As long as you got out ok, right?" she smiled at him, nodding enthusiastically, and once again he waited for her to mention Felicity, ask about her. He noticed Roy tensed and he realized Roy was waiting for that too. After a few seconds of silence he gave up, trying a different approach so they could try and figure out exactly what had happened. "Laurel, we need to know what happened there. You say you were attacked – who was it? Did you recognize any of them? Do you remember how you got away?"

"No," she said, shaking her head, "they were just 4 guys who appeared out of nowhere. They had guns, and they were all really big and dressed in black with masks. They grabbed me and twisted my arm, and then they took me into a van. They wrapped some sort of cloth around my mouth, and I remember struggling for a few seconds and blacking out. Everything from that point is a total blank – I have no idea how I got here, what happened to them – nothing," she finished, shrugging her shoulders. Oliver sighed, frustrated. This really wasn't much to go on.

"You really have no idea how you got here?" Roy asked incredulously, and Laurel turned questioning eyes on him.

"No. They gagged me, they knocked me out, how am I supposed to remember?" she said, immediately defensive. Oliver could see the impatience rolling off Roy in waves, and with a jolt he understood that Roy was angry – angry at Laurel for not even mentioning Felicity, despite the fact that she very obviously saved her life. He jumped up, knowing he had to calm Roy down before his ill controlled temper got the best of him.

"Roy, what Laurel just went through is very traumatic, it's possible she's still in shock and can't remember everything yet."

"Oh, and what Felicity went through isn't traumatic? She didn't get hurt, get beat up, and still prove that she's ten times stronger than we give her credit for?" Oliver stilled at the accusation that he was dismissing Felicity's injuries. He turned to glare at Roy, but froze when he saw the look on his face. It wasn't angry or accusatory – it was protective. "In case you didn't notice, out of the two women who came into this room, only one was strong enough to carry the other – the one with the minor concussion; the one with the bruises and cuts lining her whole body and face; the one with the cut open back. The one who is currently passed out because of the effort she made through her pain to save a woman who can't even bring herself to admit that she needed saving at all!"

"What do you mean? I didn't mean to dismiss her-"

"You didn't just dismiss her, you completely ignored her existence."

"No I didn't- Ollie, you know that I didn't mean that, right? Felicity is my friend, I would never do that to her, especially if I had known she had gotten hurt." Oliver closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He agreed with every word Roy had said – that was exactly how Laurel was behaving. But he also knew Laurel, and he knew that although she was demanding and she liked the attention and the praise for doing well, she wasn't one who couldn't say thank you to someone who deserved it from her, unless she really hated them. he knew that the way she saw it, what she went through was so scary that for the moment she was finding it difficult to focus and remember that there was someone else with her.

But all that was nothing compared to the way Roy was behaving. He wasn't behaving like a protective boyfriend by any means – if he had, Oliver would have questioned him about it (not very nicely), a long time ago - but that wasn't the case. He couldn't understand why the younger man was acting like that – and he needed to figure it out.

"Laurel, why don't you go take a shower? Diggle can show you where to go."

"What? Oliver, I-"

"Laurel, please," he said quietly. He could see the hurt in her eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to worry about her. She was fine. She stared at him for a few seconds, as if still hoping that he would give in, but he didn't waver. A few seconds later she dropped her eyes in disappointment and hurt and walked away. Oliver turned to Roy then, watching the way his eyes followed Laurel with disdain. He couldn't say he was happy with him, but he understood then that Roy was obviously worried about Felicity, and that was something he could relate to.

"Come on, Roy, let's have a talk."

* * *

"When I woke up after you guys gave me the cure, everything happened so fast. The soldiers were there, we had to jump, I realized I was back to normal strength and healing abilities – and everything was just spiraling down and around and I was feeling lost. I felt guilty; I felt ashamed; I was scared." Oliver nodded to show Roy that he was listening, but didn't move from his perch next to Felicity nor did he take his eyes off of her. She hadn't been out for long, and her breathing and pulse had evened out so they knew she was now just asleep – but until she woke up Oliver felt he wouldn't be able to stop worrying.

"A million questions were running through my head, but there was no time to ask, and I thought that even if I did no one would bother answering. We were busy, filling the injection arrows with the cure. She was a little afraid of me, I could see it… but when I asked if I was out the whole period of time that I couldn't remember, she knew what I meant." Oliver turned then, seeing the way Roy was looking at Felicity, a tender protective look he had only seen him save for Thea. "She told me what I needed to hear, and let me find it out in my own way. She knew that I needed to know if I had done something terrible, but she understood me enough not to tell me herself. She barely knew me – but she knew how to help me. And I feel that I owe her the help she gave me," he finished.

"She would kick your ass if she heard you saying that," Oliver said quietly.

"Why?"

"Because she's too selfless to want anything back. And she's too kind to give help expecting it to be returned. And she's too insecure to feel she deserves to be protected when the 'enemy' is Laurel." Roy scoffed at that.

"This woman is amazing and one of a kind. No offense to Laurel or anything, man," he added quickly, but Oliver shrugged the apology off. He wanted to hear why. "I got to know Thea while she was working with Laurel in CNRI, so I met Laurel more than once. I never felt anything – she was just another person. And I know she was kind, and I know she would smile at me, but it felt like that was it. And then Felicity, without even meaning to, turned into someone I could trust. Someone who would answer my questions. And she is so strong. She's proved it before, and she proved it tonight – and I don't know, when someone – anyone – belittles the amazing things she does I want to say it out loud, to make sure people appreciate what she does."

"I know. I understand, and I'm not mad at you for the things you said to Laurel."

"You're not?" Roy asked, confused. Oliver smiled a little and shook his head.

"No. I understand why you did it. Without her, we would all be dead. We all owe her all the protection we can give, even if she would never agree with me if she heard me say it. We would be lost without her. I would be lost without her." As he spoke he looked at her sleeping face again. He knew what he said was frighteningly true. He knew that he would lose himself if she was gone. He knew she made him happy and got him to smile whenever he needed it. He knew she understood him more than anyone else, even Laurel, and that it allowed her to speak for him and save him, and he would follow her blindly. He knew all of that. He just didn't know what to do with it.

* * *

The first thing Felicity noticed when she woke up was that her head felt strangely airy, like a helium balloon. The second thing she noticed was that her cheeks felt like they were round and swollen as a ball. The third thing she noticed was that she was lying on her stomach with her shirt pulled up to just under her breasts. And the fourth thing she noticed was that without even seeing him, she could sense Oliver's gaze burning into her back.

With a groan she tried to push herself up, but the feel of the freshly tended skin on her back stretching and the way her head spun at the motion had her landing back down on the metal table with a muffled, "ouch."

"Felicity, are you awake?" Oliver stepped around the table so he could see her face, and she looked up at him through drooping eyes.

"Sadly, yes. Oh god, my head hurts," she groaned, the mere act of talking having caused pain to spike through her still half asleep brain. Oliver looked at her for another moment, pursing his lips, and she raised her eyebrows in question, and then winced as it made her head throb worse. Oliver's brows furrowed in worry and he opened his mouth, but she beat him to it as she mumbled, "yes, I would like a painkiller please. Anything. I don't care if it's aspirin or alcohol, as long as it puts me back to sleep or numbs the pain I'll take anything. So will you please stop staring at me like a creep and get me something before I have to use my loud voice and hurt my head even more?" everything came out in one gush of air and she saw Oliver visibly relax as she finished with her small babble, a little piece of normality.

"I'll be right back." he disappeared for a few seconds, and when he came back he was carrying a bottle and two pills. He put them down on the desk and moved towards her. "Do you need me to help you?"

"Yes please," she nodded, and lifted her arms up, "I just wanna sit. Am I allowed to sit?" He nodded, and with gentle movements he helped her sit up. His hand fell to her waist when she was upright, while the other reached for the bottle and the two pills. He watched as she swallowed them, taking in every little wince at movement, and when she was done he set the bottle aside as both his hands found their way to her waist once again, steadying her when she swayed a little. A shiver ran up her spine as his fingers hit the still naked flesh, and she found herself turning wide eyes at him, just to see him staring at her with a tenderness she had rarely seen him express.

"I know you can't tell me what happened just yet," he said quietly, his thumbs unknowingly drawing circles into her skin that served to both calm the pain and set her skin on fire, "so I want you to rest. A little more, and then tomorrow you can tell us everything. I don't know how you did it, Felicity - how you carried Laurel, how you even got away from whoever attacked you. But I am just glad that you did." He leaned even closer, bringing his face so it was inches from hers, his breath ghosting over her lips. "Thank you, Felicity. You are remarkable." He smiled then, stepping away slightly and pulling her down so she was lying down again. "Rest," he said simply, and then he was gone.

Seconds, or maybe minutes later, she was drifting in the void between sleep and awareness. As she slipped even further, she tried to recall what had just happened with Oliver, but it was so vague she wasn't sure if it was real or not, or perhaps just a dream. All she knew is that Oliver told her to rest, and she would. Tomorrow they could deal with everything that happened.

**So as you can tell, slow burn for Olicity and Oliver's feelings for Felicity. I'm sorry if some of you guys just want it to happen already, but I want to make it as realistic as possible so it'll have to be a journey.**

**I hope you liked this!**

**Let me know what you thought :)**

**Love you all :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6!**

**Now before you go to the chapter there is a review I'd like to adress, so anyone who wants to understand a little more about how the Olicity in this story is going to work please read:**

**A guest reviewer said that this is a super slow snail pace for Olicity and asked for me to speed it up (and I quote) "A bit, actually a lot." I hate to break it to whoever that is - I have no intention what so ever of doing that. I'm trying to make this as real as possible, and to do that I have to develop it, and that isn't something that can just be sped up. **

**You can go through a whole book, a whole movie, and a whole season, waiting for two characters you want to get together. There are the little moments that make the connection between them real and meaningful, but if they just come together out of nothing their love and relationship, in my opinion, loses its value. And that's exactly why this is gonna take however long it takes, when in every chapter there's at least a moment or two between the that just goes to show how much they care about each other. **

**This is also a story with a full plot that goes beyond just the romance, so please don't expect that to be the focus at all times, because if what you're looking for is a lot of fluff you won't be getting it in this story.**

**I'm sorry if this upsets people, but I felt that it needed to be adressed. **

**Enjoy the chapter!**

_Previously on 'A Fracture in the Shell' - _

_"Thank you, Felicity. You are remarkable." He smiled then, stepping away slightly and pulling her down so she was lying down again. "Rest," he said simply, and then he was gone._

_Seconds, or maybe minutes later, she was drifting in the void between sleep and awareness. As she slipped even further, she tried to recall what had just happened with Oliver, but it was so vague she wasn't sure if it was real or not, or perhaps just a dream. All she knew is that Oliver told her to rest, and she would. Tomorrow they could deal with everything that happened. _

Felicity watched as Oliver paced back and forth, his shoulders tense, and waited for him to calm down before she continued. "After I got the last man to come out she killed him too, and then she told me to call you. She knew about my connection to you, Oliver – as the arrow at least. She warned me that I wasn't safe and then she was gone. She just climbed up a building and disappeared."

"How did she know you weren't safe? How did she even know who you are, that they were following you?" Oliver asked, his voice betraying his frustration at the lack of knowledge. Felicity closed her eyes for a second before opening them and meeting his. Now was as good as any other time to tell him.

"I think it wasn't just some random girl," she said quietly, and with that he stopped pacing to look at her expectantly. "There was something really familiar about her – about the color of her hair, her voice – at the time I was a little too out of it to put the pieces together, but I thought about it a little more this morning, and I realized that I know her. I mean, I don't know that side of her, but I would recognize her anywhere – especially after that night a few days ago." She waited for them to understand. Dig was the first to put two and two together, and his eyebrows rose to his hairline.

"You think the girl who saved you is Mina?" he asked, doubt clouding his voice, and she gave a small nod. Looking around at the 3 men around her she could see that they found it hard to believe, but she could also tell that they wanted to. After a few beats of silence Roy finally voiced the question that they had all been thinking.

"Well if it was her, where did she learn to fight like that? I mean, she's only what – 16?" he looked at Felicity for conformation and she nodded. "How does a 16 year old learn to kill like that, to use a knife like that? Where was she those eight years? And while we're at it, she's your sister; why did she feel the need to hide and put on a mask?"

Those were all very good questions, but Felicity had asked herself the same ones for the past hour and she still had no answer. The last question however, raised a memory, and she voiced it out loud, "it wasn't just a mask, I think that in a way that was like a whole costume, fighting gear. She was wearing long black pants over big black army type boots, and a tight black shirt. The back of the shirt had some sort of design, like an upside down V. I didn't see much, it might be more than that. She was all black and white, and she dressed in clothes that were obviously good for battle, but also give us a way to separate her from others."

"What're you trying to say?"

"I'm saying," Felicity took a breath before continuing, "that maybe I can try to look her up. It was like she was dressed in gear, which makes me think that she's used to fighting, she just hasn't done it here. If I search for a fighter that matches that description in some of the big cities, maybe I can find out more about who she is and what she does." Oliver nodded, pursing his lips.

"You should do that, but not until you've eaten something." She nodded and started getting up. Roy and Dig took her movement as a sign that they were done with the story, and they both gave her encouraging smiles which she gladly returned before getting up and leaving, Roy to train and Dig out the door, probably to go see Lyla. She turned back to Oliver to find him looking at her. When he saw she had turned her attention back to him he asked, "You good?"

"I'm fine, just tired and confused," she said, moving to stretch her stiff muscles. Her back stung a little as it arched but she ignored it, choosing instead to look at him carefully. She saw the bags under his eyes and the sag of his shoulders and she sighed quietly, knowing he probably hadn't slept at all last night, and she knew for a fact that he'd been staying up until the early hours of the morning training for the past few nights before that too. "Why aren't you resting?" she asked quietly, and he raised his eyebrows at her.

"I don't need to, I'm not tired."

"Oliver," she said exasperatedly, "you look like the walking dead. No offense or anything." He rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his short hair, shaking his head.

"I'm fine; I just need to understand what's going on." She walked up to him slowly, coming to stand directly in front of him, and put a hand gently on his arm.

"Depriving yourself of what little sleep you get isn't going to help you understand anything, it's just gonna make you incapable of understanding even the simple things. You need to go and rest a little. I'm gonna eat something small, take a shower, and then I'll get to work on searching for a girl who fits the description of the one I saw last night. If I find anything I promise to wake you, but only if you promise to actually go to sleep. I don't need you brooding around in your room that whole time, ok?" he raised an eyebrow at that, but she could tell that he was reluctant to listen to her.

"Come on, Oliver. You need your rest. Please?" she said, raising hopeful eyes to him, and she watched as his resolve crumbled little by little, "you won't be able to function normally without it, and then you'll get all grumpy and I'll have to deal with it, and then we'll both lose it and I'll have to use my loud voice and-"

"Felicity!" Oliver cut her off with a small smile, "ok, I'll go to sleep. Just promise me you'll take it easy, ok? And call me if you need anything."

"Ok…" she rolled her eyes."Just go already."

"I'm going, I'm going," he raised his arms in mock surrender and she smiled at the rare playfulness. She made a shooing gesture with her hand and he shook his head with amusement before turning around and walking out. She smiled at the ground for a few seconds before shaking her head and heading towards the small fridge in the corner to get something to eat. She knew he would probably just stay up most of the time but at least she could say that she had convinced him to have some time alone and if he really was tired he would hopefully at least lie down and think in bed... And that was an achievement too.

* * *

_"Guardian angel or angel of death?" _the headline read, and next to it a picture of the girl from last night, probably Mina, standing on a roof and looking down at something. In the picture her hair was pulled back off her face, and she was holding a knife in one hand and a sword in the other. The picture was taken from behind her with her face turned to the side, so only half of it was showing, and Felicity could see the white glint of the mask on her face. More than that, her shoulders and back were on perfect display, and Felicity could finally see the white shape she had noticed before clearly.

As she looked she realized that it was, in fact, a form of white weapons belt that circled her waist and up her chest and shoulders, and came to cross at her lower back, forming the upside down V shape she had seen. Strapped to it were a variety of knives and a sword identical to the one she was holding in her hand. The knives were strapped with their points in towards her shoulder blades and the small of her back, and she immediately understood the angel reference – they formed small, wicked wings that were set across her back like the wings of a deadly angel. It was a surprisingly beautiful design for such deadly gear.

The article was one of many that she had found, all about the angel that fought at night. Most were just around the same question- was she good or was she bad? Felicity couldn't help but look back and remember the first few months that Oliver had been back in town and the whole city had been shaken. So many opinions were voiced and so many arguments on exactly the same question. From what she could gather, she traveled from one city to the next, never staying in any city for long. In the time she was there she would fight at night, and leave within the next few weeks. Was that why she was here? Was she just a random young girl who traveled from city to city and just happened to reach Starling city at the same time her sister did?

It made sense, in a way, but Felicity found it hard to believe for some reason. A nagging feeling had her convinced that it was Mina she had seen, and she wanted to trust her sisterly instincts enough to believe that it truly was her sister. She knew the rest of the team found it harder to believe, but she still couldn't shake the feeling. She just needed to find a way to prove it to them, or better yet – show them.

She needed to find Mina.

* * *

"I am going to kill him!" Felicity seethed, pacing back and forth as she raged at Oliver's irresponsible behavior.

"Felicity he's already on his way back-"

"But he could be injured because he didn't listen to me because he's a stubborn ass!" Dig sighed heavily.

"I won't argue that he's a stubborn ass, but he's also not stupid; trust that what he did was for a reason and that he's ok."

"How do you know that he's ok?" she asked hysterically, "have you heard anything from him? Because I sure as hell haven't – not since he turned off his freaking comms in the middle of the mission! A mission that he messed up when he decided to do the exact opposite of what I told him to, if I may point that out. What was he thinking, god? He could be hurt. He could be taken. He could be-"

"Fine, Felicity. I am perfectly fine." His voice came from the other side of the room, and Felicity whirled at him, already opening her mouth to yell at him when he held his hand up. "Not now, Felicity, please. You can yell at me all you want, but can we please do that after I show you the reason I turned off the comms in the first place?" Felicity crossed her arms over her chest, silently fuming.

She watched as he stayed in the doorway, his shoulders still tense and his stance still alert. In the soft light he looked pale, and as she watched he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

The second their eyes met all anger washed away from her. In his eyes she saw sorrow, she saw reluctance – but what scared her most was the intense guilt and undercurrent of hesitance. He looked like he was trying to apologize, and at the same time he seemed to be afraid to tell her why.

"Oliver, what is it?" she asked worriedly, taking a step forward towards him, but once again he raised his hand and she stopped.

"Please don't be mad at me," he said quietly, "please don't freak out. She saved my life. She knew who I was – and she wanted to see you." He stepped out of the way and a smaller shadow appeared in the doorway. Felicity's breath caught in her throat as he sister came out of the shadows, wearing a white mask and black clothes, with a white weapons belt strapped across her waist, chest and back.

"Please don't run away again, Felicity." Mina begged her, her voice steady but her hand shaking as she reached up and took the mask off of her face. "Please."

Felicity didn't hesitate. She crossed the room in a matter of seconds and finally, she wrapped her arms around Mina and brought her close to her chest, enveloping her as she whispered soothing words.

"Shh, it's ok, I'm here and I'm not leaving," she crooned, running a hand through her hair soothingly. "Mina, look at me," she said quietly, and with a small sigh Mina lifted her head and met Felicity's eyes. "Thank you. You saved me last night. Thank you." A small grin formed at Mina's mouth and Felicity lifted an eyebrow quizzically.

"Well, someone had to do the saving, and if not me then who, silly? You?" Felicity let out a startled laugh at the sentence she had always told Mina when she was scared and Felicity helped her. She looked at Mina again, touching her cheek gently, finally taking in and accepting that this was it. Her sister was back – but she was changed.

"What happened to you?" Felicity whispered quietly. "How are you here right now?" Mina raised her blue eyes to hers, and in them Felicity could see the walls she had put up, as well as the change she had gone through. They were gentle, but there was hardness in them she had never seen before. There was a scary, carefree quality to the way she held herself and looked around. She looked young; but the glint of the weapons on her back turned her from a soft doll to a dangerous toy, all sharp angles and dark corners.

"I can't tell you that, not yet. I just need you to trust me – I'm here because I know of some people who are coming to terrorize the city, and they are way more powerful than you can imagine."

"We fought an army of soldiers with super strength and we beat them. We've stopped all the people who've tried to hurt this city. And the things we've seen and won go beyond your imagination. Why should this be any worse?" Oliver interjected, and Mina turned her piercing blue eyes on him.

"The people who have hurt this city had a very clear goal, and they got to it through sheer force and taking actions. What you had to do was stop them. The army you fought just a few months ago wasn't trying to defeat anyone in particular, not when it was out on the streets. And the man behind the army, Slade Wilson, had a personal vendetta not against this city, but against you, Oliver Queen. They all went for parts of you that know how to fight back and protect themselves – one is the part that sees a crime and a threat directed at another and feels the need to barge in and stop it. The other is a part of you that most people don't really know, but those who do could easily use it to destroy you – the man behind the mask, the personal part, Oliver Queen." Felicity watched as Oliver paled with every word coming out of Mina's mouth, and she felt the urge to go and hug him, soothe him, tell him it's ok – she knows everything, he doesn't need to hide it.

"The people I'm talking about aren't targeting any of that. Not the city directly and not Oliver Queen." She looked around at everyone in the room, the whole team Arrow standing there, and her eyes burned into every single person she stared into. She had a frightening power, Felicity realized, an ability to control and demand the attention of the whole room just by looking at them with those unsettling blue eyes. "Those people are attacking the city, but they are doing it through you. Not Oliver Queen, but the Arrow himself. They know where you operate from. They know when you leave. They know what your biggest weaknesses as the Arrow are. They know who you work with." Felicity felt the whole room shift as everyone turned to look at her. "They know everything, other than who you are, and the reason they're so dangerous to you – they don't care. They just want to destroy you, and don't underestimate them – everyone they've wanted dead the past few years is dead. I'm not saying they'll kill you," she added, "but they're gonna put up one hell of a fight of the kind you haven't fought yet. So if you're gonna win this, you're gonna need my help."

* * *

The steady thump of a weapon hitting the target wasn't unfamiliar, but when anyone walks in and finds their little sister throwing knives with a frightening accuracy it'll make them do a double take.

"Where'd you learn to use a knife like that?" Felicity asked curiously, sounding almost like a child.

"I had good teachers and a ridiculous amount of natural talent." Mina grinned, and Felicity chuckled too.

"Ridiculous, huh?" she asked playfully, watching with curiosity as the muscles on Mina's shoulders rippled when she threw yet another knife. She liked this; liked joking with her sister like normal siblings would.

"Totally. You should have seen the first time I threw a knife – I hit the target literally a few inches away from the middle. All the guys who were training with me just stopped and stared at me like idiots. It was actually kinda fun." She winked, and Felicity let out yet another short laugh while looking over her sisters lean and muscular body. Starting from her long legs to the flat stomach and the soft curves and ending with her beautiful face, Felicity didn't doubt that she attracted looks from many boys.

"I bet you get that a lot, huh? Guys staring at you like idiots?" she asked playfully, but Mina just turned back to the target.

"Nah, not really. Don't get to go out much, and the guys around me have mostly been with me for the past few years, so they know I'm not to be leered at." Felicity didn't miss the small sense of loneliness in her words, but she was pretty sure that if she asked she would just be told to let it go, there were things that shouldn't be explained just yet.

"So I'm guessing that means no boyfriend or anything?" Mina turned amused eyes on her.

"Not exactly, no."

"What does that even mean?" Felicity asked exasperatedly.

"It means it's complicated." Mina answered shortly.

"Aren't they always?" Felicity mumbled, and with that Mina came to stand right in front of her with her arms crossed and a teasing smile on her face.

"What is that supposed to mean? You seem to be doing just fine here." Felicity just raised her eyebrows. "You're surrounded every day by 3 sweaty, mostly shirtless, ridiculously hot men. They're all willing to do practically anything for you. Now I know," she said pointedly, "I know that John Diggle's taken and that Roy is a little too young for you – but it seems to me you have Oliver Queen, many women's dream, wrapped around your little finger."

"No I don't, don't be ridiculous," Felicity sighed. Mina just grinned.

"Please," she scoffed. "He definitely cares about you more than he's willing to admit. Just look at the way he's taken care of you these past few days."

"Mina, trust me, his feeling towards me are nothing more than friendly, ok? Trust me on this one." Felicity said again, and Mina furrowed her brows at her for a moment before her eyes suddenly lit up with a sudden realization.

"You're scared because you're not sure what's going on with him, and you're afraid of ending up disappointed." Felicity looked intently at the ground, refusing to let Mina see that she had hit spot on. She jumped a little when she felt Mina's hand come to grasp her arm. "To you it might seem impossible, but to anyone on the outside it's obvious. I've been watching you guys for a few weeks now, and if there's one thing I've noticed it's that he needs you. He looks for you when sad, angry, happy, and his worst fear is that you will get hurt somehow. He watches you a lot, even when you don't know he's watching, looks after you."

"That's because I'm the weakest one here, not because he cares about me so much," Felicity said bitterly, and Mina just gave her a small smile.

"You might be dumb enough to believe that, but I know how strong you are, and I know he does too. It's impossible to miss, especially after what you did last night. Trust me, there is definitely something going on between you two. Give it some time – it'll work itself out in the end." Felicity took a deep breath before looking up at Mina and giving her a small smile of gratitude, which quickly changed into a grin.

"Aren't the older sisters supposed to comfort their little teenage sisters about boys and not the other way around?" she asked Mina, and she gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "We really aren't the best at this sister thing, huh?"

"We're new to it; we're allowed to suck a little at the beginning, right?" Felicity gave a short chuckle and a nod. "Besides – that's what normal sisters do, and who says we're normal? Normal is totally overrated." Mina finished with a wink, and then turned and walked away to get a bottle of water.

"No," Felicity said to herself as she watched Mina walk away, "we are definitely far from normal sisters."

**I Hope you liked it! **

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**Love you all :) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 :)**

**I am so glad you guys agreed with me and that you're sticking with my story so far. Keep up the amazing reviews, you have no idea how much they mean to me...**

**I hope you guys like this one...**

**Enjoy, and let me know what you think!**

"Ouch. Again." Felicity's voice came out muffled by the training mat where she was lying face down. She pushed herself back up until she was sitting on her knees and raised pleading eyes on Diggle. "Do we have to keep doing this? I really don't see the point at even attempting something I suck at." Diggle rolled his eyes with a small smile.

"You're not even trying, of course you're not gonna manage. Come on, get up." he reached a hand out to help her and reluctantly she accepted it. Once again Diggle helped her get into the right fighting stance and stood in front of her. "Now, remember, I just want you to attack me. Come at me and try to take me down, this time without falling on your face. Not very difficult, right?" Felicity frowned but held her body up in the right stance.

"You know, you might think it's not very difficult but you are like twice my size so that already makes you hard to take down, and I was never very good at hitting things because I always feel bad about it and you're like a towering wall of muscle that I have no chance against so how the hell am I supposed to take you down?" she finished with a whoosh of breath and Diggle just chuckled. Oliver smiled too, watching from the corner. He watched as they went over the same things again and again, but he could tell Felicity's heart wasn't in it. It was almost like she was letting Diggle knock her out of the way.

"He's taking the wrong approach with her." The voice came from his left, and Oliver jumped as Mina stepped quietly out of the shadows. He still wasn't used to seeing her around, to walking into the foundry and finding her there, and to searching for Felicity and finding her busy and talking to her newfound sister. She was an interesting girl, with a lot of secrets, but he could relate to that, to the darkness that he could see in her when she fought and trained. She was watching her sister training with a small frown.

"What do you mean the wrong approach? She needs to know how to fight, how to handle herself – you might have saved her last time but you can't always be there, and neither can we." He said pointedly, but Mina shook her head.

"I know that, and I wasn't saying you shouldn't teach her how to fight – I'm just saying that with that approach she'll never learn, she doesn't want to."

"Then how do you suggest we teach her?" Oliver asked, folding his arms over his chest and raising his eyebrows. Mina turned her blue eyes on him.

"She doesn't want to feel that she's hurting anybody. If there's anything she's afraid of it's hurting someone who doesn't deserve it, and even if they do she won't automatically do it, which makes that a weakness in a fight. I've been watching her for a few weeks now, and I know that that is what's stopping her from doing well right now." As she spoke Felicity landed on the mat again and they both flinched. Mina let out an aggravated sigh. "Ok, that's enough. Cut it out, John, this isn't working." Both Diggle and Felicity turned to look at her in surprise. She walked towards them with her back straight, carrying herself with purpose, and came to stand in front of Felicity.

Before any of them had time to blink she had Felicity in a choke hold, careful not to actually hurt her, and both Oliver and Diggle jumped towards them. "Wait," Mina held up her hand. "Felicity, Oliver is in trouble. He's locked inside a room after a hard fight that left him bruised and injured and there are guards headed his way. The _only way_ for him to get out is for you to unlock the door but that has to be done from inside the control room, and a guard caught you. I'm the guard. You want to get to Oliver. Do it." Her voice was gentle but commanding, and Felicity turned wide eyes on Oliver. His whole body was tense at the sight of her being held down, and it took every bit of restraint he had to stop himself from ripping Mina off of her, but he understood what Mina was doing. Felicity would rarely ever fight for herself alone – but when someone else needed help, she would do everything in her power to be there for them.

"Mina, I… I don't know how." She whispered, but Mina just shook her head.

"Yes you do. You got away when the guy grabbed you when you were trying to get to Laurel. You're small and you're fast, use that to your advantage to just slip away. Now take a breath, and take in your surroundings," she whispered, and Oliver watched with wonder as Felicity closed her eyes and evened her breathing. He watched her body melt out of its unnatural stiffness and her muscles ripple with purpose. Mina nodded, looking at Felicity, and then leaned in a little closer to her ear and whispered tauntingly, "now come on… Oliver needs you. Take me down, if you can." Felicity's mouth twisted into a smile.

"I can."

Her eyes flew open, and Oliver's breath caught in his throat as she brought her hands to the back of Mina's head and gave a strong pull, curling her body down and forcing Mina down with her. As Mina stumbled from the sudden pull to the ground Felicity slipped out of her grasp, sliding her body and canting it away from her while her hand reached out and pushed Mina down to the ground where she just reached her hands out in time before she fell. Felicity's eyes met his in a moment of disbelief and joy and then she laughed a carefree giggle that shocked him. She looked down at Mina who was sprawled on the floor with a grin, and then at her hands and down at her body, as if not truly believing she had done that.

"Good job," Mina said, getting off the floor."See? I told you she could do it with the right approach," she told Oliver, but he just gave a small grin and turned to Felicity.

"How did that feel?" He asked, and she turned joyous eyes on him.

"I did it, Oliver! I finally did something right! And it felt… It felt good." She finished, and Oliver couldn't help the smile of wonder that touched his lips. Seeing Felicity like that was new to him, but he found the look on her face and her body language as she fought just made her even more attractive. Even as she took her sister down to the ground he could see the innocence behind her eyes, but the strength of her body and the determination of her movement reminded him once again how strong she really could be and already was.

"Alright, that was very good, now let's see if you can do it again," Diggle said, a smile tugging at his lips as well. Felicity rolled her eyes but turned to him and let him grab her. Oliver backed away, giving them the space they needed to train.

Felicity's body language was completely different now, her movements more at ease and controlled, and from that moment she managed everything Diggle showed her. Oliver stopped watching after a while, knowing that he needed to train too. Just as he was putting on his gloves and stretching, he caught Mina's eye across the room. The amusement that sparkled in them showed how mature she was, but the playful smile that tugged at her lips reminded him that she was still a child, younger than his sister. As he watched her she gave a little smile, raising her brows, and then she disappeared into the shadows of the training room.

* * *

When Felicity stepped out of the shower she couldn't help the smile on her face. After a lot of frustrating lessons she finally got the hang of some things, and was finally starting to learn how to use her body and her personality to her advantage in a fight. She had changed into a t-shirt and jeans, and she padded out barefoot with the towel still wrapped around her hair and headed towards Oliver. When she found him talking to Laurel she stopped on her tracks, suddenly feeling out of place. She was still in the doorway, and neither had noticed her, so she decided she would try and get away as quietly as possible without them noticing her. She could tell they were in the middle of a heated argument, which already made the situation awkward, but when she heard her name thrown in she froze. Slowly inching closer she focused on what was being said, and watched as Laurel stared at Oliver and spoke with barely concealed anger and hurt.

"… attacked me, Oliver, and you let him! He yelled at me, turned me into a total bitch and her into a saint, and you did nothing to stop him!"

"Laurel, she was injured and she still carried you and made sure you got here, I think it just bothered him that you didn't show that much gratitude." Oliver's voice was soft, soothing, but she could hear the impatience in it, and so could Laurel.

"Oh, so now everyone needs to thank her for one act of bravery that I could have done too? I'm sorry that I was still a little focused on the fact that I was nearly kidnapped Oliver, and not for the first time!"

"Laurel-" Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Felicity had no idea what they were talking about, but obviously it was about her and about Laurel's reaction to the whole incident. The frustration that radiated off Oliver got to her and made her clench her fists in impatience too, made her angry at this woman who was pestering him to madness. "I'm sorry, but I understand why he reacted like that, and I can't be mad at him for it. I sure as hell won't talk to him about it or even try to convince him to apologize. This isn't you, Laurel. It's not like you to belittle someone like this, and to be so offended by the words of a troubled teen." Laurel looked at Oliver like she didn't even know him, her brows furrowing into a look of hurt and confusion Felicity had come to know well. It was a look that was unleashed every time Oliver did something she didn't like, usually meant to guilt him into saying sorry, and until then Felicity had seen it work every time.

"I don't get it, Ollie," Laurel said quietly, her anger thinning and the yells stopping. "You used to love me so much; no one was allowed to say anything to me like that when you were around. If you thought something was wrong you told me, you didn't wait for someone else to come and throw it in my face. What happened? You're just so different… it's almost like you don't love me any more." She tilted her head, staring up at him with big eyes and a pleading look. She was nolonger radiating the anger she had before. "Do you love me, Ollie?" Oliver's shoulders sagged and his head fell forward and Felicity held her breath.

"Yes, of course" he answered hoarsely. Felicity let out an uneven breath and shook her head at her own stupidity. Of course. It was gorgeous Laurel, who always looked like a model and would always have a place in Oliver's heart. She was about to step away when Laurel's voice rang out again.

"I know. I know you love me, but that was the wrong way to ask you, because it could mean many different things and you know it. You love me, but not the way you used to, not the way I remember you loving me – not anymore, do you?" her voice was small, quiet, and she was looking at Oliver with a sadness and a defeated sag to her shoulders. Oliver hung his head for a moment. Then he raised his eyes he looked at Laurel evenly and answered calmly.

"No."

Felicity's heart jumped to her throat.

Laurel gave a small nod and pursed her lips, taking a small step away from him. He reached out to grasp her arm gently. "Laurel, I'll always love you, you know that, right?" he looked broken, but he was holding himself together better than Felicity had ever expected. Laurel gave him a small smile.

"I know. And I'll always love you. It's just…" she trailed off, thinking, "It's just that to hear you say it like that, it's like you popped a bubble I had made a long time ago, that we were made for each other no matter what this shitty world threw at us."

"But now you've realized it's not true, and even though you understand it you don't know how exactly you're gonna live without that bubble around you." Oliver finished for her, giving her arm a small squeeze. She smiled again and nodded.

Felicity's heart was beating so fast, she could barely breathe. She couldn't believe this was happening.

"Well, um, I'm gonna go. Don't get me wrong, I feel the same as you so you didn't hurt my feelings, but I just… I just need some time to understand and take everything in." Laurel said, and stepped away slowly, looking down at the ground.

"But you'll come back, right? I still want you to be there, I still need you; just not the way I used to." Oliver's voice was so sad, yet it was steady and sure. At that Laurel looked up and at him.

"Of course, Ollie. I'll always be here. Don't worry, you aren't losing me completely." Oliver gave her a grateful smile and nodded. With that, she turned around and walked away. Oliver didn't watch her leave; instead he closed his eyes and let his head fall back.

Felicity felt her heart clench at the movement. Was he regretting what he just did? Did she even understand what she'd just seen? Oliver and Laurel had officially ended things. They had both agreed that they no longer had feelings for each other, no longer wanted to be together. Oliver didn't want to be with Laurel – gorgeous Laurel, who was made for him.

Oliver's eyes were still closed, and Felicity watched him for another moment before moving away. She kept her eyes on him as she inched away.

Right before she rounded a corner and would no longer see him he opened his eyes and met hers.

Blue met blue in a moment frozen in time.

Felicity held her breathe, scared of what she would see in the deep blue orbs she was staring into. First there was surprise, and then something she couldn't quite identify. Was it anger at her hearing what had happened between them? Was it just the lingering sadness? Or was it something else?

And then Oliver's eyes softened. And he smiled.

She smiled back, staring at him shocked. Then she turned away. The moment was broken, but the depth of what she had seen was still there, charging the air as she walked away, wondering what on earth was going to happen now.

* * *

"Hey guys, have you seen Mina?" Felicity walked up to Roy and Dig who were sitting near her desk and eating. Oliver had disappeared shortly after the talk with Laurel. Felicity assumed he just needed the air, and she understood that now was not the time to look for him or to bother him unless it was urgent. A lot of crap was going on in his life at that moment, between losing his house and money to his sister leaving.

Thea leaving was something no one spoke about. The only time she had been mentioned Oliver and Roy had both stilled, and had later spent hours unleashing their frustration on the training gear. Needless to say, losing his sister had hurt Oliver terribly.

And now Felicity was looking for hers, and she couldn't seem to find her anywhere.

Dig shook his head and Roy shrugged, "no idea. Why, is something wrong?"

"No, it's just… I really need to talk to her. Are you sure you haven't seen her anywhere?" Roy shrugged again.

"I haven't seen her since our training a few hours ago. I think she went out before we were even finished." Dig said, and Felicity nodded, pursing her lips in thought. It was more than possible that Mina had simply needed a break and decided to head out for a few hours, but Felicity couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Mina would have let her know she was leaving, and where she was going. She would have answered the phone. She would have come back by then.

"Let me know if she comes back, ok? I'm worried about her." Felicity said quietly, looking at the screens of her computers in absentminded thought. A dot on the screen that hadn't been there before caught her attention, and she jumped up and towards it. It was flashing, a bright red against the map of the city.

"What is it? Felicity?" Roy asked worriedly, but she ignored him, typing to figure out what the dot was.

"I… I don't know, I think it's a tracker, but that makes no sense, the dots are showing all of us where we are." She pointed to the 3 dots that signaled her, Dig and Roy, and at the one moving dot that was Oliver, probably riding his bike, on the highway.

"Then what do you think that one is?" Dig asked, looking at the screen. Felicity just shook her head in confusion.

"I have no idea. For it to show on the screen whoever that is had to activate it with the little button on it to make it work. Why the hell did it only show up now, two seconds ago? It wasn't there the last time I looked at it." She looked at Dig, but he looked just as confused and unsure as she felt. Roy was silent next to them, his eyebrows furrowed and a frown on his face. As she watched his frown grew and his face darkened. "Roy?" she asked quietly.

"That's Mina, it has to be." He looked at her, his eyes on fire. She raised her eyebrows. He pursed his lips, pointing at the screen and then at her impatiently. "Think about it! It's one of our trackers, so it came from here, and she's the only other person who's been here the past few days and even come close to the trackers!"

"Laurel was here too," Dig interjected, but Felicity knew that Laurel hadn't gone anywhere near the shelf where they kept their trackers. Roy was watching her intently.

"You know I'm right," he said quietly, "it has to be her." Felicity nodded grudgingly. She was surprised by the intensity in Roy's eyes as he willed her to agree.

"But why would it suddenly pop up now?" she wondered out loud.

"I think I know why." She turned to look at Roy expectantly. "She took the tracker probably just to have, right? In case she needed it. Chances are she needs us to track her down now which is why she activated the tracker. You said it yourself, she disappeared and you have no idea where, which isn't like her. But she didn't just disappear; and she needs us to know that." He waited for a minute to let it sink in. Felicity felt her face warm and her hands started shaking.

"You're saying you think she needs us to find her." She said quietly, her voice shaking only a little bit. Her vision narrowed down to just the flashing red dot in front of her. Roy spoke, but he sounded distant, and she just barely heard what he said.

"I'm saying I think she was taken. Someone took her. She needs our help."

**I really really hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Sorry for the sort of cliffy, I promise to try and update as soon as possible!**

**Please let me know what you thought ;)**

**Love you all :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 :)**

**So there was a lot less response to the last chapter than the ones before it... is it boring you? Annoying you? Any constuctive criticism you have I would LOVE to get, so please review, I really really love reading what you guys have to say. Seriously getting a new review literally makes my day. **

**With that being said, I am so sorry this took so long! I started working 8 hours a day which leave me so insanely tired every day, and then when I finally had some time to write my computer broke down :/ But now all's good, we fixed the computer, and I promise to find more time to write...**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter, and let me know what you thought ;)**

_"You're saying you think she needs us to find her." She said quietly, her voice shaking only a little bit. Her vision narrowed down to just the flashing red dot in front of her. Roy spoke, but he sounded distant, and she just barely heard what he said._

_"I'm saying I think she was taken. Someone took her. She needs our help."_

The tense silence only made Felicity grow more nervous. Oliver was sitting behind her, suit on and bow in hand, as was Roy, who seemed almost as jittery and restless as her. The flashing red light washed her face in a soft crimson glow every time it blinked, and all she could do was sit there and watch it, occasionally instructing Dig to turn here, and keep driving straight there.

She knew Oliver didn't want her to be here; not while they were about to enter the territory of the potential threat they suspected took Mina. But this was her sister, and no one could stop her, and she had a feeling Oliver knew that. He also knew what it was like to love a sibling so much you don't care about your own safety, and she was grateful that he was letting her do what she needed to to keep her hysteria at bay.

"We're almost there," she said into the silence of the car. "Here, turn right there, and it's right around the corner." Dig did as she instructed and within seconds they were all out of the car. Felicity tucked her tablet under her arm nervously, and waited for Oliver's lead as he and Dig walked around, taking in their surroundings and probably planning the best escape routs should they need to get away quickly. They appeared to be in an abandoned factory, rather like the area their old foundry used to be. There was no vehicle in sight, nothing that could help her identify who they were dealing with, and more importantly, there were no signs of anything that could belong to Mina that might have fallen down, or they might have thrown out. The place looked completely deserted.

"We're going in now, there doesn't appear to be any immediate threat." Oliver said quietly, already heading towards the entrance, when suddenly he froze, as if realizing something for the first time, and turned to look at Felicity. "I really don't think you should come in with us, Felicity." She looked at him in amazement.

"Are you kidding me?! That's my sister in there; I am coming with you, Oliver. Don't do this," she said pleadingly as he took a step towards her and she saw him brace for an argument. "You know how it feels to know your sister is in danger. You would do anything for Thea, because you love her and can't lose her; please don't stop me from doing the same for my sister." His shoulders slumped but his jaw remained set and his eyes dared her to contradict him.

"Look man, we can protect her, she should come. I will personally guard her if you're so worried, but she deserves to come with us, don't you think?" Roy asked hesitantly, and she felt a rush of gratitude that she knew shone in her eyes as she silently thanked him, but Oliver still shook his head.

"She can't come with us. You can't come, Felicity" he repeated to her, and she felt angry tears of frustration spring in her eyes.

"Stop this, Oliver! Stop treating me like I'm made of glass, I promise you I can handle whatever is in there and I promise I'm not gonna die on you, ok? Just please let me in there!"

"I can't, dammit." He growled, looking away.

"Why the hell not?"

"Just trust me, ok, Felicity?"

"No, not until you tell me why I can't come."

"She could be dead, Felicity!" he said forcefully, scrubbing a hand over his face and turning once again to look at her with a frightening intensity. Her stomach dropped and her hand came to cover her mouth as she looked at him in horror, suddenly understanding why he didn't want her to come. She hadn't even considered that a possibility.

"We might find her there, dead, and I don't want you seeing that," he explained, much more gently now. "You already saw her die once, and it nearly destroyed you; I can't let that happen to you again."

"You really think that's possible?" she asked quietly, and he reached out a hand to grasp her shoulder gently.

"I think she's stronger than any of us understand just yet, and I think that I really hope she's ok; but we can't be sure until we find her, which is why I need you to stay here." Felicity shivered, still staring at him in shock. "Now that you understand why I want you to stay, do you still want to come? It's ok if you don't, you know," he added. "It doesn't make you weak, and it doesn't make your effort to help Mina any less significant." She opened her mouth to answer but no sound came out. Finally, her voice came out in a terrified whisper.

"I… I don't want to go in there. I can't see her like that again, Oliver."

"I know," he said soothingly, visibly relaxing as he understood she wasn't coming in with them.

"But I'm still gonna believe she's ok. I have to." Felicity said almost forcefully, and Oliver smiled.

"Of course you are. Wouldn't be you if you didn't." she smiled too, and reached up almost automatically to pull his hood up gently. As the hood came down over his eyes they disappeared for a second, before shining back at her out of the dark and the shadows.

"Go, I'll stay here," she said quietly, letting her hand linger for a second in the folds of the hood before releasing it. "Go bring my sister back."

"I will. I promise you."

* * *

"You and Felicity seem to be getting pretty close, huh?" Roy whispered as they crept around the dark corners of the building, and out of the corner of his eye Oliver saw him smirking at him.

"Not the time, Roy," he said tensely, looking around for any sign and searching for any sound to indicate that Felicity's sister was there and safe.

"I'm noticing you didn't deny it," Roy whispered back, and Oliver turned to glare at him.

"Not. Right. Now." He ground out, and Roy raised his hands to show he gave up. As he turned around he did, however, see the wink Roy sent Diggle's way, but he decided to ignore it. "Does either of you hear or see anything?" both shook their heads, sobering at once, and Oliver sighed. The had climbed into the building through a window in the top floor out of 3 and a basement, and had searched the second and third floor, but hadn't found a thing yet. "Come on, we're going down." Silently they climbed down the stairs to the first floor, and Oliver's senses were immediately on high alert at the new unknown area. Looking around there seemed to be nothing, but there were a lot of dark corners and sections in the large stretch of ground there, and until they searched every corner there he refused to back down.

"There's nothing here." After a few minutes of searching Roy voiced what they all knew. Oliver had to admit, his hopes were dwindling close to nothing. It seemed empty; not a sign that anyone was there, not even that anything was living there.

"Let's go check the basement. She has to be here." Both men nodded, and they headed towards the stairs.

They were just past the middle of the staircase when Oliver heard it.

"Wait!" he held his hand up. "Did you hear that?" they both paused and listened intently.

A few seconds of silence resulted in an intake of breath as they all heard the unmistakable sound of chains rattling and a young girls voice asking into the hollow quiet, "who are you? Get the hell out of the shadows so I can see you, stop hiding." Slowly inching closer Oliver reached the bottom of the staircase and turned, entirely unprepared for what he saw on the other side of the very long room.

Mina was standing against a wall, her hands chained with two long chains hanging from the rafters on the roof of the room. The whole room was dark other than the corner where she was standing, but he could see movement just to her right in the shadows. His heart leaped in his chest as he realized that they had found her, that she was alive.

In that moment Mina looked up at him, and his world narrowed down to her eyes that met his. They were so like Felicity's, and that scared him. she looked a lot like her sister, and he didn't like that; she was dangerous, she had long since lost the innocence that still defined her sister, and looking into her eyes was like seeing a lost and broken version of Felicity. And yet, the look in her eyes, for that split second when she realized they were there, it pierced his heart with an unusual force. She looked so happy to see him, so hopeful, like she knew he had come to save her and she trusted him to help her. It was a look he knew well, but he had only ever been affected by it like that when it came from one very special person – his sister.

Suddenly Mina's eyes widened and the slightest shake of her head broke the spell he was in. it looked like she was about to say something when the person spoke from the shadows.

"You know why we are here, Mina _Di Angelo, _I hope?" Oliver startled at the last name, the one he knew for certain was not Mina's last name, and as he watched Mina closed her eyes.

"No, I'm afraid I don't. Care to enlighten me?" He had to admit, he admired her guts. She wasn't one to bow down, even when she was bound and chained. It was a trait he had come to respect, but also to fear – it had the ability to save your life and to end it. A tap on his shoulder had him turning around to look at Roy, who was watching Mina intently. He made a jerking motion with his head towards Mina and Oliver nodded, already knocking an arrow, when Diggle's large hands handed on both of their shoulders. He shook his head in a silent no, and turned to look and Mina meaningfully. Her eyes were wide, her chin set, and her hands… she was moving them inside the chains. Just one finger, moving from side to side.

"She doesn't want us to attack," Diggle whispered, and both Oliver and Roy turned to look at him like he was crazy. "Trust that she knows what she's doing, ok? Don't attack yet." With a purse of his lips Oliver lowered the bow and he saw Roy do the same, if a little more reluctantly. Silently they watched the scene play out.

"And here I heard you were smart," the voice came again tauntingly, and for a second Oliver tensed thinking he knew they were there, but he relaxed a little bit when he realized he was still talking about why he had brought her there. "I am here because I was sent to do something. Can you guess what it is? No? Hmm, that's a shame." Mina just rolled her eyes, and even in the tense moment Oliver still had time to smile at her reaction to the rather pathetic attempt at intimidation.

"We are here so I can kill you."

Several things happened at once. Roy lifted the bow so fast Diggle barely had time to react, but when he did it resulted in a loud gasp as the breath was knocked out of Roy's lungs, leading Mina to a fake but very well played out coughing fit.

"Sorry," she wheezed out between coughs, "but that was unexpected. I mean really, I had no idea you were that stupid."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you see here's the thing; I am an incredibly well trained fighter. Chances are, if only one of us will be leaving this place alive, I will. Now, when you were still putting up the whole silent and mysterious act I might have let you go." she snorted. "But not now. You should know, I am a very vengeful person, and I don't take threats to my life – however pathetic and truly empty – lightly." She turned her eyes on him, and once again Oliver was struck by the silent strength she had. She was terrifying, and she hadn't done anything more than speak and stare.

"You have some guts, talking like that when I have you tied up and I hold the weapons." A shadow appeared against the wall next to Mina as the man stepped closer. "I am very good at what I do, sweetheart. Don't underestimate me." he stepped out of the shadows, and a towering hulk of muscle was revealed, a weapons belt full of knives strapped around his waist and back. To her credit, Mina didn't even flinch, but he did see her eyes turn cold, more calculating as she took in her enemy.

"I promise you I wasn't; I was just warning you not to do the same with me. But then again, I really hope you aren't dumb enough to do that. I have a feeling you heard stories about me if someone was desperate enough to send a goon like you to kill me, so unless you're as dumb as you look I'm gonna assume you know that I am still a dangerous enemy."

"Is she trying to get herself killed?" Roy hissed under his breath, but Oliver held his hand up to shut him up. He understood what she was doing. A battle wasn't all won by muscle and training, a big part of it was mental, and she was playing with her enemy's mind in a way that confused him and scared him, and made his voice waver just a little when he spoke next.

"In fact I have heard a few stories. I heard that you're a traitor, for one. I heard that you were willing to push aside the people who saved you, turned you into what you are today. I heard that they taught you to be strong, yet you let emotion and sentimentality get in your way and soften you, which is why they are now forced to get rid of you."

"They aren't forced to do anything. You say it like it's so hard for them; don't you realize they don't give a rat's ass about me? I'm just another pawn in their game, and I refuse to let them play me like they're playing you." She retorted, and Oliver saw one of his hands twitch towards a knife. She needed to be careful.

"Look at it however you want, the fact is they are unhappy with you, and they don't have the time to deal with you; bigger things are stirring, they can't afford the betrayal of a little child to distract them." Mina grinned at him, and then heaved a great, overly dramatic sigh.

"So now you're here to kill me, huh? I guess it sucks you didn't know about my special friends then." Her fingers turned and she pointed them at him, the meaning behind her words and gesture very obvious. He lifted the bow. "I always find failing so frustrating," she continued, "I'm sorry we're putting you through that." Confusion clouded the mans face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, well, I just wanted to know why you really came after me and took me here. Beyond the obvious I'm here to kill you, that is. I just wanted to make sure they sent you, to know for sure that they want me dead, and now I know." As she spoke she turned to look at the three men still mostly hidden in shadow, and held up 3 fingers. Her message was clear. All three nodded almost exactly at the same time, and prepared for attack.

"This was all very nice, but we're gonna have to say goodbye," she said charmingly, smiling widely at the man. Her 3 fingers flashed out again. "It was a pleasure meeting you, and I truly hope we will never meet again." Two fingers. "Goodbye." One.

The man's confused sputters were cut short as the two arrows and one bullet pierced his back. Mina looked up at them, smiling, and raised her eyebrows when they all just stood there and looked at her. "Are you gonna untie me, or was that whole very heroic save just so you could stare at me?" she asked jokingly, and Roy jumped up towards her, arrow in hand, and in one smooth move cut through the metal chains and freed her hands.

"That was the dumbest thing I have ever seen," he said, gently grasping her shoulders and giving them a small but firm shake. She just rolled her eyes.

"I knew he couldn't kill me, not with you three standing right there. Thanks for the save, guys. I appreciate it." she smiled at all of them, and they couldn't help but smile back. "Is Felicity here? She must be freaking out right now."

"She's fine, she's right outside, actually."

"Oh. Good, I'm glad." Mina sighed.

"Are you ok?" Oliver asked suddenly, looking her over but seeing no sign of injury. She nodded.

"I'm fine; I just wanna get the hell out of here. Come on, let's go. I'm guessing I probably have some explaining to do too, huh?"

The murmur of agreement that came from the three men bounced of the empty walls as they headed up the stairs and towards Felicity.

* * *

They were still waiting for the explanation to come. When they had arrived back at the lair Mina had announced that she was tired and that she would explain everything the next day, so now Oliver found himself replaying the scene in his head in a hopeless attempt to make sense of the jumble. The soft sound of bare feet padding against the floor made him look up, and he found Felicity approaching him.

"Hey," she said quietly, and he smiled in response. She clasped her hands in front of her and started twisting her fingers, a sign that she was nervous. "So there's something I really need to tell you, and I sort of wasn't sure how, but then I figured the best course of action would probably be to just tell you which is exactly what I was supposed to do here and instead I'm rambling – oh god, I just have to shut up!" she closed her eyes and brought her hands up to her forehead in a gesture of frustration he always found adorable. "You know what; I'm just gonna say it, ok?" Oliver nodded with amusement. She took a deep breath.

"Thank you."

Oliver's eyes snapped to hers.

"Felicity, you have nothing to thank me for," he said quietly, but she gave him a small smile and shook her head.

"I have everything to thank you for, Oliver." Oliver lowered his gaze to the ground. She was wrong. He had never given her anything, never done anything to deserve her gratitude; all he had done was put her in harms way, use her, and yet she stayed. But it wasn't because of him that she stayed; she stayed because that was just who she was. She wasn't one to turn her back on another, to give up the opportunity to save a life.

But he couldn't say that to her. She couldn't know.

"Well, you're welcome, then," he said, his response as close to awkward as he could manage. She smiled and nodded, and then took a slow step away.

"Ok, now that we got that out of the way-" she took a breath, but Oliver interrupted before she could continue.

"That's what you were so nervous about? A thank you?" he asked with a smile, and she blushed, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Well, it's not just a meaningless thank you, you know?" she said quietly. "I'm thanking you for so much - for saving my sister; for helping me; for just being there for me. It's – these past few weeks have been difficult, on a personal level, and you… well, you helped me through them." she finally met his eyes with a shy stare. "And if I had something to give you, I would. I wanted to maybe buy you a gift or something but I felt that I wouldn't really be able to find something that could do the amount of gratitude I have for you justice, so I decided to do it the old fashioned way – use my words. It's not much, but… it's really all I have to give you right now." Oliver just stared at her.

How could she say that she had nothing to give? She had everything he wanted and needed; she _was _everything he wanted and needed. The problem was he just wasn't ready to get it – he didn't deserve it, and he never would. She was so good, so kind and innocent, a source of light that had the power to rekindle a flame inside his darkness whenever he lost his ever flickering faith and direction. But to burden her faith and her flame with his darkness? It wasn't even an option. He didn't deserve what she had to give – but he knew that she had everything to give.

"You have more to give than you realize," he whispered hoarsely, hoping that she would understand what he meant without him explaining what she could never know. "You have no idea how much you've given this team, how much strength you give everyone every day. Even the smallest words, however old fashioned, help me, and they mean a lot." He spoke directly to her, willing her to understand, and she looked up at him intently, her big blue eyes staring at him past the familiar glasses.

"Really?" she asked quietly, and he had to smile at the childlike question. He swallowed as he stared down into her face, their faces slowly inching closer almost automatically.

"Really." He managed to answer finally, when her face was so close they were breathing the same air, their noses almost touching. They never broke eye contact. It felt so good to be this close to her; to have her scent wash over him, her good fill the missing pieces of him.

But they couldn't. He couldn't let her get so close.

"I should go," he ground out, his voice barely more than a whisper and his breaths coming out uneven. She didn't seem to hear him. "Felicity," he said quietly, already hating himself for stopping her, "We should go. You might want to check on Mina, she's been out for a while." Felicity jumped at the sound of her sisters name and looked away, her breath coming out in shallow gasps as she stumbled a few steps away from him.

"Yeah… yeah you're right, I – I should." She said, running a hand over her hair and looking at the ground. Oliver lowered his gaze too, and he felt the charge of the moment bleed away once again into nothing. He knew he was doing the right thing, but that didn't stop him from wishing he hadn't. He gave her a small half smile that she didn't even notice, and then walked away from her with his hands in fists at the effort it took to turn his back on her like that.

But he had to do it, he had to protect her, and that was the best way. It was his fault she needed protection, so he would do everything he could do give her exactly that, but no more. He didn't deserve her, and he never would. All that mattered was what she deserved, and that was to be happy.

And she could never be happy with him, right?

* * *

Stupid, Felicity scolded herself. Why did you do that? Why did you have to scare him away like that again? Her hands were shaking with frustration. She still remembered how good it felt to have him so close. She closed her eyes, hoping to wash the images and feelings away, but they came unbidden.

_His breath ghosting against her mouth in shallow gasps, as uneven as hers._

Why was his breathing so erratic? Why did he seem to feel the presence of the ever existing electricity between them as much as she did? It made no sense. He wasn't supposed to have been affected like her, yet something had drawn him in and taken his breath away the same way he stole hers every time she saw even the smallest glimpse at his raw sadness, raw pain, and sometimes open happiness.

_His eyes never broke their hold on hers as he inched his face closer, leaning down so their eyes were almost level._

What was that, flickering behind his eyes? What was that thickness coating his voice as he spoke to her, what did it mean? There was something so strange about the darkness of his eyes, the black that had swallowed the blue she was so used to. And the way he spoke… it was like it pained him, but it was a relief to speak and say what he said. It was almost like against his will he was inching closer, yet it pained him to turn away. This was one part of Oliver she just couldn't understand; the one part that stayed hidden, a mystery. Everything else she could understand about him – even the things he rarely ever mentioned.

She never asked about what had happened on the island, she didn't need to. What happened wasn't important, the way it affected him was - and she was living the change he went through because of it every day. She figured that the reason he didn't speak wasn't because it was too painful – she watched him deal with pain every day, and she knew that he had learned to accept that sharing a burden with another made it lighter for both.

The reason he rarely ever mentioned the island wasn't because he was afraid of it, but because he was afraid of how easy it would be to tell another about the obvious horrors he went through. She saw the way he looked at himself, the way he spoke about himself; it was like he was worthless. A failure. A bad person. He believed that the reason he could understand that about himself was because of the island; and so he didn't want to have to show anyone else the darkness he believed lay inside of him.

What he didn't understand was that nothing is black and white; no one could be all light, and no one could be all dark, there were many shades of grey in the middle. A person could easily give in to the lighter or the darker shades, but she could tell he hadn't; he was still in a solid place in the grey section, but he couldn't believe it. She knew all that about him, and understood him.

She understood where his darkness came from, where the pain lay in him. She understood that he believed he was hopeless. She understood that so many things he did he didn't even realize that he was leaning towards the light, he was glowing, but he still acted like there was no hope.

It was in moments where he acted like there was hope that she could never understand him. Like this one; there was no darkness or pain in his eyes, not when he looked at her like that. There was no sadness, just clarity.

It wasn't something she saw often from him, which was why she still struggled to understand what he could be feeling in those moments.

And lately they had been happening more times than not.

It was all so confusing. Ugh. Her brain was likely to just explode one day from an overload of confusion and attempts at trying to understand what those moments could mean. It was probably best to leave them alone, they were probably nothing.

Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe… maybe they could be more than nothing. Maybe they could mean something after all.

**I am so sorry for stopping them from kissing, guys! Trust me, I was frustrated too...**

**That being said, I hope you liked it despite the frustration.**

**Don't forget to review and let me know what you thought**!

**Love you all :) **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9...**

**So first thing's first thanks to everyone who reviewed, keep it up, you guys are amazing :)**

**Second, just something I felt the need to say before you read the chapter - I am a very phillosophical person, and this shows a little bit in this chapter. There is a discussion here regarding things and question that I find thrilling that I used to show you a little more about the characters, but I'm just saying - if you guys have any questions about what I say there I'm happy to answer, and on the whole I'm just happy to discuss that subject and the things I wrote with anyone who's interested, so feel free to review or message me. **

**And now, without furthur ado, chapter 9. I hope you like it :)**

"You might have noticed that my gear has a pretty special design," Mina started, still refusing to look at them as Felicity, Oliver, Diggle and Roy all stood around her and listened. "The back looks like wings, and it actually has white in it, which is a contrast to the dark colors most people would pick. That's because to the person who had it made for me, I was his beautiful, I was his light, and I was his angel." Felicity felt the sadness in Mina's eyes as she spoke of that person as if it were a physical slap to the face. Her shoulders seemed to sag, and for once her eyes didn't hold the fire they usually did as she gazed at each and every one in turn; they just held a sadness and regret so heavy, Felicity could feel it weighing on her own heart. She looked up and met Oliver's eyes, and in them she saw the same grief and sorrow she felt for her sister, the same understanding that this would not be a happy story.

"He's the one who originally found me, passed out and in shock on the ground in the rain, and dragged me to safety and away from the police and ambulance. He put me to bed, he dried me and warmed me up, he gave me water and food, and he got people who took care of the gunshot wound in my side. He saved me." every word out of her mouth was another punch to Felicity's gut. She was describing how this stranger saved her when Felicity had just gotten up and left her, how he helped keep her warm while Felicity let herself and her heart freeze – how he helped Mina up when Felicity was supposed to be there and instead had gone spiraling down.

"Look, there are things… bits and pieces that I need to leave out, that I can't tell you yet, so I need to skip a little, ok? And everything I say will be very vague, ok?" Mina said, looking at the ground. She was shaking, her voice was shaking. Her voice never shook. That shocked Felicity into keeping quiet rather than asking questions, and she knew it did the same for Roy too. She nodded mutely, and Mina continued.

"Anyways, long story short; turns out he was a part of this group, or more like an international organization, that took me in." not much to go on, but Felicity knew it wouldn't be smart to interrupt and ask for more details. "They trained me, taught me to fight, and gave me a purpose. One of the heads of this group noticed me; I was young, but I was invincible. No one could defeat me. He said that facing me was like facing death itself." Felicity shuddered. How could anyone say that about a young innocent child?

"That's what I thought too." Mina said quietly, and Felicity started as she realized she had muttered that out loud. Mina didn't seem to notice, however, and she kept on talking. "I asked this guy who had found me if he really thought I was death, and then he told me that no – I was way too good and light to be death. He said I was an angel, a force of light so bright my enemies just can't handle it. The next morning I woke up and found the gear next to my bed." She reached out a finger and ran it lightly over the white weapons belt. It was truly beautiful, and practical too – technically, she could just put it on over any every day clothes and have an array of wicked knives at the ready.

"Anyways, the idea of me being an angel stuck and they started calling me the dark angel. Eventually, people came to see me as just that. I wasn't Mina anymore; I was Mina Di Angelo, which means the angel. That's why he called me that," she said, looking up at the three men who all nodded with understanding. Roy had told Felicity of the strange last name, and she was glad to have an answer to a question that had bothered her since she first heard what had happened. Mina was also skipping a lot of details, Felicity noticed. She didn't _really _explain where she had been. She didn't _really_ describe the people she had been with. She was swerving around topics, as if afraid to mention certain things. Hell, she didn't even give them any first names – she was offering enough, yet she was offering nothing at all.

"Those people… they taught me to be merciless. They turned me into a literal angel of death – they wanted to make me into something that didn't care who it was fighting, what, how fair it was, but only about killing it. I would have become something like that too, if it hadn't been for him." Her voice was so resigned, so defeated, it was scary. She never gave up, she was so strong – yet when she spoke of 'him' it was like it was a battle she had already lost.

"It's thanks to him that I ended up coming here. We… grew close," she said quietly, and suddenly Felicity remembered that first night she had come to the foundry and Mina had told her that she 'sort of' had a boyfriend, and that it was complicated. She had the feeling this guy, whoever it was, was this sort of boyfriend. "He knew I had a sister, knew the story, and he knew your name," Mina looked up at Felicity and met her gaze straight on for the first time since she had agreed to explain. "When The Arrow started coming up more and more frequently among our leaders, he did some investigation, and found out all he could about him. Your name obviously came up in Arrow related police files, and when he found out that I was connected to The Arrow through you he told me." She lowered her head again.

"I wasn't supposed to care that you're my sister. They had trained me in hopes that they could turn me into a killing machine, one that doesn't have anything other than enemies. They failed – I was more than just a killer, and they discovered that the hard way when I left them and came to you. That's why he called me a traitor," she said, her voice getting stronger. "That's why he was there to kill me – they can't afford to have me out here, a weapon they can't control that holds so much information. They need me dead so they can protect their secrets."

"What secrets are these?" Roy asked suddenly, finally letting the questions Felicity knew he was holding in, out. "What do you know?"

"I wish I could tell you," Mina said, sounding rather desperate, "but I can't."

"Why not?" he asked gently. Felicity was surprised by his patience, when usually his eagerness to know and understand got the best of him. He was showing a tender side of himself only the people closest and most important to him got to see. Mina looked at him.

"Because the truth, in some cases, can be far more dangerous than the secret."

"That's not true. The truth is always better – always." Roy said it with true conviction, but Mina shook her head with a small, grim smile.

"Look at it like this – while the secret weighs down on the person keeping it, the truth has the ability to kill the person hearing it." Felicity gasped softly at the obvious meaning behind her words, and out of the corner of her eyes she noticed Oliver's knuckles turn white as his grip tightened against the table her was leaning on. But Mina continued anyways.

"If you find out these secrets, the risks… right now, your life is depending on you not knowing the truth. That'll change soon, I promise you. But until then – I have to keep it a secret. I have to keep you safe."

* * *

Roy definitely had a thing for strong women. He admired Thea so much when she just kept coming back – as much as he had denied it, he'd loved it when she came back to him again and again, pestering him and even stalking him a little bit. It showed that she wasn't one to back down, she was a stubborn young lady, and it didn't take long for Roy to lose himself in her magic and strength.

He had always had to be the strong one. He was born into a world of kill or be killed, do what you have to do to survive, and he had done it. He had done terrible things, things he was ashamed of, things that nearly killed him more than once. The world he lived in forced him to become dark, a thief in the night, because without accepting the dark he could know no light.

But somewhere, under all that darkness that he had used to protect him, a sense of justice and a force of light had grown within him. after seeing and living the horrors of the shadows firsthand, he knew how desperately someone was needed to shine a light on them, and after meeting Thea, he was given the opportunity to try and do that at least to his own shadows and demons.

Now, as a part of the Arrow team, he was given a chance to do that not just for himself, but also for others. Every night he went out into the streets in hopes that he could make a little change, bring a little light into the black lives of many people. More than that, he was also learning firsthand the true meaning of strength, both physical and mental. He was spending his days and nights with people who had survived war, isolation, torture, and loss, and had come out of them stronger and wiser than ever before.

There was nothing he admired more than a person who was able to take the pain and the suffering and turn it into something good, channel it positively. When a person had been to hell and back and still managed to stay strong and stick to what they believed in, that was when he knew that they were special.

This was probably why he was so taken by Mina.

That girl was a true angel. She was beautiful, he had known that the second she'd taken her mask off for the first time in front of him. Her wavy brown hair was lighter than Thea's with touches of blond streaks, thicker, and longer. Her eyes were big and a startling blue and her long lashes framed them like a layer of protection over the secrets she guarded so well inside, another contrast to Thea – whose eyes he could always read like an open book. Her body was that of a fighter, small and lean and full of muscle, yet she still had soft curves. She was short, far shorter than him, barely 5'2, and she rarely ever wore heals, and so he found himself looking down at her far more often than he had with Thea.

He couldn't help comparing her to Thea, as much as he tried. Losing her still pained him, every day. But he was finding that when he was with Mina, he felt it less. She hadn't replaced Thea, by any means – a part of his heart would always belong to her. Yet she was so special, and she was slowly taking over a different part of it – she was so different.

In Thea, it was the light that always attracted him, her insistence that he could be good, her belief in the truth so fully – which had also lost her for him in the end. In Mina, on the other hand, the shadows and the pain he saw were fascinating. She was dark, she was a killer and a fighter, and everything about her past and present was shrouded in shadows.

Yet beneath that layer of secrets and darkness, he saw the light.

He saw the flicker of hope when she spoke with Oliver, joking around with him and making fun of him, much like they were family.

He saw the vibrant smiles she threw at Diggle when he helped her, when he was there for her, something it seemed she wasn't exactly used to.

He saw the happiness and the seemingly lost innocence when she was with Felicity, when she was once again given the chance to be the lost little sister.

He saw the angel and the amazing strength, buried under the death, and god help him, it was beautiful. She was beautiful.

And he was terrified by how strongly she had pulled him into her grasp.

* * *

"Hey. Are you ok?" Felicity looked up as Oliver approached her. She blinked a couple of times, hoping it will wash the last tears out of her eyes, but she knew Oliver wouldn't be fooled.

"No," she said quietly, and he gave a small, understanding smile.

"I know," he said gently, reaching out and brushing a stray tear off her cheek absentmindedly, "I could see it in your eyes when you left us. What happened?" she shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself.

"I don't know, it's just… I guess, hearing Mina talk about her past like that for the first time – it made me realize how much pain she went through. Did you see her eyes?" she half whispered, and he nodded. "They were so, so sad. When she spoke about that guy who found her, the guy who saved her when I should have – she just, she looked broken. My sister is broken, and it's because of me," she said thickly, two more tears sliding softly down her cheeks. Oliver once again brushed his thumbs against her cheeks and forced her to look up at him.

"It is not your fault that your sister had a hard life. She was born into a world where she was… she was going to know hard times, and she would suffer. There wasn't much you could have done – at the end of the day; you were living a hard life. No matter what, her childhood would not have been a happy one. Hey," he said gently again, bending down so he could look her straight in the eye, "Mina had a hard life, but it was the life she got. I've learned that it's best not to question why things happen – I used to ask myself those questions, while I was on the island. They nearly drove me mad. What's really important," he said, his voice turning a little more firm, "isn't why, but where you take what happened to you. And look at her – your sister is a beautiful, smart, and strong young lady that you can be proud of. You did well, Felicity," he said quietly, meeting her eyes. "Come here," he said softly, reaching to wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders, "She's a great kid." Felicity just stared up at him for a second.

"Thank you," she finally said quietly, and then gave him a small grin before turning her head into his chest to hide her teasing smile. "Since when did you go all comforting words of wisdom on me? Usually that's my job." She felt his chest rumble as he chuckled softly.

"You deserved a break," he said gently, and she turned once again to look up at him, leaning her chin against his chest. He smiled encouragingly back down at her, and she took that as a sign that she could lean her head back down over his heart, her exhaustion taking over her.

She wasn't used to this; to him holding her like this. But she knew it felt good and right. And as long as he wasn't pushing her away, she wasn't one to let go easily.

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" Mina didn't jump at his sudden question, nor did she show any surprise he was there, and Roy knew he had been completely silent when he came up. He wondered how she knew he was there, but knew there was no point in asking – somehow, she always knew everything that was going on around her, and was always aware.

"Of course you can. But I'm not promising an answer." Roy grinned, glad to hear a bit of the old Mina in her voice again.

"That's cool," he said, inching closer to her curled form, mindful of the cracks in the rather old roof they were sitting on. "So… you described some things before, about how people saw you, about how you couldn't be beat, and I just… it made me wonder – how do you do it? I've seen you train and I know you're an amazing fighter, but still. How do you win every time? How do you manage to defeat your enemy?"

"Those are two very different questions," Mina answered quietly, turning away to look out at the dying sun. Wisps of hair flew from the loose braid she was wearing. "I can only answer one of them."

"What do you mean two different questions?" Roy asked, studying her profile. A small smile tugged the corner of her mouth, and he could just imagine the thoughts swirling in her head as she thought of an answer for him.

"Defeating your enemy doesn't always mean you win; and winning doesn't always mean defeating the enemy. I know how to win - but how to beat the enemy; you might have to ask Oliver or John that question." Silence stretched between them as Roy pondered her words.

"How do you win?" he finally asked her, and she turned and gave him a small grin before turning away and letting the blood red of the sunset wash over her pale face.

"A lot of people consider different things a success. This one will tell you defeating the guy is winning, this one that leaving the fight unscathed is winning, and this one that killing your enemy is winning. The beauty in the difference, though, is that you get to choose what you want to be. You get to choose what kind of winner you are." She turned warm eyes on him, and he smiled back, listening intently. She was younger than him, him being almost 20 and her only 16, but she didn't seem 4 years younger when she spoke like that. She had a wisdom that only came with understanding, an understanding that only came with experience, and experience that seemed to go far beyond her years and made her seem much older.

"I chose not to be a killer, like everyone was expecting of me. Where I was… they drilled it into my brain, that the winner is the person standing with his enemy on the ground, with the blood on his hands." Roy grimaced at the brutality of the statement, but didn't interrupt. "I decided that they were wrong. The winner isn't the one who killed; the winner is the person who walked out alive. If it meant killing the enemy in the process, so be it – but it didn't have to, and it didn't matter. As long as I live through a battle, I feel that I won."

"Even if your enemy walked out alive too?"

"The question isn't weather I killed; the question is weather or not I survived."

"But why? Why take that approach, when you can think in a way that can guarantee that your enemy is finished too?" Mina turned to look at him with an amused expression.

"Is that the way you think going into battle?" Roy nodded mutely. She nodded once and gestured in his direction. "And tell me, do you always win?" Roy opened his mouth, but closed it when he realized the answer was in fact no, and she knew that. She nodded again. "There you go. I take an approach that allows me to be the winner every time, and like that I become a winner. I'm strong, I'm fast, and I'm great with knives. I can kill a person easily – but once that isn't my goal, I don't need to focus on the kill; it's just another piece of a puzzle that forms a larger picture. I don't aim to kill; I aim to live." Roy stared at her face for a couple more seconds before turning to look at the sunset, letting a comfortable silence stretch between them as he thought of what she said.

"Why do you think that is?" he asked a few minutes later.

"Hmm?" Mina said, still looking out into the view.

"Why do you think you manage to win because you strive to stay alive and not to kill others? I mean, in a world like ours every day could be your last. If anything, living should be harder to achieve than killing." Looking back at her again, he saw her give him a thoughtful look through the corner of her eye.

"Living is something we do naturally, automatically. No one needs to teach us how to live – we just do. We are here to maintain life and to create more lives. Aiming to do the most natural thing for any living creature is not overstepping my luck, is it?" Roy shook his head. "Killing, on the other hand… that is less natural. Of course, there is always the predator and they prey; but we humans weren't made to spill each others blood. Killing has its emotional package. If you're not ready for it mentally it can drive you insane, kill you on the inside. Think about it," she said quietly. "What do you prefer? To be a killer – or to be a survivor?"

Roy didn't answer. He turned his head back to the view in thought. A few minutes later Mina got up, giving him a small squeeze on the shoulder, and disappeared down into the building, leaving him with his thoughts and emotions.

* * *

Felicity found Mina coming down from what appeared to be the roof.

"What were you doing up there?" She asked, but Mina just waved a dismissive hand.

"Nothing. Do you need anything?"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you're ok." Mina's brow furrowed and she turned to Felicity with a strange look.

"I wouldn't say I'm ok, no. I'm really scared of telling you things right now, I'm not sure where they'll end us up. But I haven't really been ok in several years now, so I guess I'm good." She shrugged. Felicity's heart clenched once again, but she remembered what Oliver had told her; this was life. There was nothing she could have done. She took a deep breath.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You know, that's the second time someone's asked me that today. I don't get it – what's the point of asking if you can ask? Just go ahead and ask your question, and of course I won't stop you," she said jokingly, and Felicity grinned at the realization that maybe she wasn't the only one who rambled from time to time.

"This guy you were talking about, he's more than just the guy who saved you, right? He means more than that to you." Mina's previously playful eyes turned serious and a little bit sad.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "we were really close I really care about him." Felicity didn't miss the use of the past tense.

"Were?" she questioned, and Mina shrugged.

"I told you, I know things that can get you killed. He's the one who found those things out – and he wasn't as lucky as me. They came for him first, a little over two months ago. I haven't seen him since."

"Oh god, I'm sorry," Felicity said, reaching out and grasping her sisters hand. Mina smiled sadly and shook her head.

"Don't be. He knew what he was getting into, and he wanted to help me anyways. He was amazing and caring in that way."

"He sounds amazing." Mina nodded. "Look, if you ever want to talk you know I'm here, right? Anything you need, I'll give you." Felicity squeezed her hand. Mina smiled gratefully.

"I know, thank you."

"You're welcome. That's what older sisters are for." Mina grinned, and then reached out and pulled Felicity into a quick hug.

"I missed you. I really did."

"Me too." Felicity said, hugging her back. Mina stepped away and gave her a small smile.

"I'm gonna go. I'll be back later." Felicity nodded. "Bye!"

"Bye." Felicity watched her go. Suddenly she turned around and said something, so quietly Felicity almost didn't hear.

"I love you." Felicity's heart fluttered. It had been so long since her sister last said that to her. A rebellious tear streaked down her cheek and she wiped it away with a smile.

"I love you too, Mina."

**I'm really sorry there wasn't a lot of Olicity in this chapter! I promise that next chapter there will be plenty, but in this one I chose to focus a little more on the outlining plot reather than the romance. Hope that's ok.**

**Another thing - no worries, for the moment at least I don't plan on bringing Roy and Mina togther so all you guys who ship him with Thea you can be calm. Regardless let me know what you think of having Roy sorta fall for her and even the option of having them as a couple. Thanks!**

**Pleeeaassee let me know what you thought of this one!**

**Love you all :) **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10!**

**Wow guys, we've reached exactly 100 reviews! That is really exciting for me, you have no idea, so thank you so much! Keep them coming, they mean so so much.**

**Anyways, this chapter was difficult to write... Took me a while to be pleased with it, and I hope it can please you guys too.**

**So here's chapter 10. I hope you like it :)**

"Felicity, you don't have time for this we need to go!" Oliver's voice urged her through the earpiece, but she ignored it, watching the empty rectangle on the computer screen fill with the flashing green light signaling the files were being uploaded. "Felicity!" Oliver yelled again, and she ran her hands over the screen, begging it to finish.

"It's almost done – wait – there we go! Yes!" her fist flew in the air and she grabbed the flash drive out of the computer, stuffing it in her pocket and scrambling out of the chair. "I'm on my way out," she muttered quietly to Oliver, rushing to the door and flinging it open. They were searching for information on the Triad's newest target, and she had needed a few files to get it. Now, as she raced through the dark corridors of the building they had broken into, she felt the familiar rush of adrenaline surge through her veins and allow her to keep running towards the roof with Oliver's voice in her ear, encouraging her. She could hear the sounds of grunts and heavy breaths coming from Mina and Roy, who were fighting the guards downstairs and keeping them distracted while she did her hacking.

"I'm on the roof; there are a few guards here too. Come here, but be careful, ok?" Oliver's voice was slightly breathless, and Felicity gave a little nod to herself and muttered a positive response.

"I'm almost there," she said, slowing a little bit as she approached a corner, "give me two sec- oh crap." she froze, backing away as 3 guards surrounded her.

"Felicity?!" 4 different voices all shouted into her ear, and she flinched a little at the noise. She didn't answer, knowing trying to talk to them would only distract both her and them.

"Hey, um, hello there," she said instead, giving the guards a small, hopefully innocent smile. "I think I might have gotten lost on my way to the bathroom, any chance you can help me?" she tried to sound innocent and lost, but the guards tilted their heads, closing in on her. She bit her lip and did her best not to show how unbelievably terrified she felt. "So no help then?" She asked with a small voice. One of them grinned. Then he shook his head.

"Yeah… no. I don't think so." He pounced on her, and with a small shriek she twisted out of the way, only just slipping out of his reach, only to find she was moving straight towards another guard. Steeling herself, she squared her shoulders and bent her head. Praying to god she wasn't doing something extremely stupid, she closed her eyes and ran straight towards the guard with her hands outstretched. For a few seconds all she felt was her head spinning as she moved towards him, and then she heard and felt the slap of flesh on flesh as her ready left hand met his chest with a push full of momentum while her right fist collided painfully with his face with a force that knocked him straight onto the ground.

She had no time to stare in awe from her throbbing hands to the guy and back again, wondering how the heck a move so impulsive and childlike had knocked him down, like she wanted to. Instead, she stumbled over him and broke out running, her feet carrying her faster than she thought was possible away, up the stairs and towards the roof. In record time she reached the heavy door, the guards trailing behind her on the stairs, and grabbed the handle. Just as she pushed the door open it was pulled open forcefully from the other side, and she found herself staring into Oliver's green leather-clad chest as she collided with it with an inelegant "oomph!"

"Felicity! Are you ok?" Oliver asked, his voice gruff with worry, and she nodded.

"I'm fine. There are 3 or more guards coming up the stairs headed our way." Oliver tensed at the news, and then he pulled her so he was standing between her and the door.

"Stay behind me, ok?" he ordered, and she nodded obediently, trying to catch her breath. The sound of footsteps echoed up from the metal stairs, and the first man burst out. Oliver's hand flashed and an arrow sunk into the mans left shoulder. Seconds later he had another arrow knocked, and the next guard out of the door fell to the ground next to his friend. Oliver still stood with his feet planted firmly in the ground, bow raised and trained on the door. A bang sounded from the other side of the roof and Felicity turned to see the other door crash open and a flood of men stream out towards them.

"Oliver," she said hysterically, "we need to go." Turning around, he cursed as he saw they had more company. He looked around the roof, and then grabbed her arm and pulled her to the edge.

"Come on," he said, shooting a cord to the nearest building and gesturing for her to take his hand and come.

"Roy and Mina?" she asked breathlessly, putting her hand in his and letting him haul her up to the edge too.

"Long gone and safe," he answered, wrapping an arm securely around her waist. She nodded her approval.

She just had time to bury her head in his chest before he jumped and then they were flying.

* * *

Roy and Mina walked into the dark foundry laughing. For the first time in a long time, Roy found himself smiling and joking with someone, and he liked it. He liked that he could make her laugh, that she felt close enough to him to tease him.

"Well, look at it like this – out of the two of us, I am the one who walked out of that fight without a scratch, so that clearly means that I am the better fighter." Mina said, tilting her head teasingly.

"That's only because I stopped that one guard from punching you and ended up taking the punch to the face for you," Roy countered, grinning and raising his eyebrows mockingly. He lifted his hand and rubbed his tender cheek, wincing at the throbbing. Mina just rolled her eyes.

"Don't be a softie, a punch to the face isn't that bad, and there are way worse things that could have happened to you. You just gotta learn to deal with the pain, like me."

"What pain? You didn't feel any pain today because I took all the punches for you."

"How gentlemanly." she rolled her eyes again. "Anyways, even if I didn't get hit today that doesn't mean I haven't gotten hurt. You're forgetting I spent eight years with people, whose only goal was to make me a killer and teach me to know how to fight past anything, including pain." The look in her eyes turned a little distant and slightly haunted, as if she were recalling an unpleasant memory. The air shifted between them, hanging more heavily now, and he peeked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"And how did they do it? How did they teach you to fight past the pain?" Roy asked quietly, and then hastily added, "Only if you want to tell me." Mina studied him for a moment before slowly nodding. All joking and fun gone, she looked grim and suddenly exhausted, but she was, as always, determined.

"It's ok, I don't mind showing you." She reached up to her back and unclasped the weapons belt off of her shoulders. Setting it aside, she gave him a look under her lashes. "Just a warning… this is something that I have accepted as a part of myself, even if I'm not happy about it. When you see this, remember that, and try to accept it too." She reached for the hem of her shirt. "I know it's not pretty, but that's what I am now." As the shirt lifted and the skin on her stomach and lower back was revealed, she bunched it at the very bottom of her breast, and then slowly with a deep audible breath she turned around so she was facing him again. Roy gasped softly.

On the left side of her stomach there was an angry round scar, ashen gray; a bullet wound. The one she had gotten when she was 8, that night she and Felicity had been separated.

On the right side of her stomach all down from her ribcage to her waist, were patches of burned skin. There were long ones and short ones, straight ones and wavy ones, and together they formed a picture of a roaring flame all down her right side. It burned on her skin, an angry red against the pale skin of her taunt stomach.

"This one was after I ran away from a building on fire that killed one of my leader's sons, rather than saving him too. Every day for two weeks they woke me up early in the morning and led me to a room where a tattoo artist was waiting for me, along with my supervisors. There was a metal table with hand and leg cuffs and a fire with an iron in it." she said it all with no pain or anger, just as if she were reciting from a book. "They taught me how the pain that he felt was unbearable, but I eventually learnt that struggling and freaking out was pointless. I learnt that even through the burning pain of fire on my flesh, if I can keep my resolve and stay focused, the affect on me later will be smaller and then I'll be able to function and heal faster later, rather than exhausting my body." Roy shook his head, shocked at the brutality. She was only 16 – barely older than a child. Some grown ups didn't experience things like that in their whole life; and she, at the age of 16 or younger, had gone through that and would bear the scars for the rest of her life.

She turned around so he could see her back, and he winced when he saw the angry red lines all over her lower back, and trailing up and under the fabric of her shirt. Some were big and some were little, some rose high up on her flesh and some just left an angry mark that would never heal.

"These scars are from my punishments. I wasn't allowed to defy them, and if I did I had to suffer the consequences. I was there for a little less than a month when I got my first one, and I nearly blacked out from the pain, but that didn't stop me." her voice became stronger and stubborn, her shoulders straightening in defiance. "I was determined to show them that they don't own me, that I can do whatever the hell I want; eventually the pain of the whipping became so familiar it didn't even hurt that much anymore."

"God, how did you survive it? It must have hurt like hell." She nodded, and then dropped the hem of the shirt so it covered her skin once again.

"It did," she confirmed, "but every day they marked me with something new, and every day I fought another battle that left its scar on me. This one was definitely the worst, though." She pulled on the neck of her shirt and the fabric gave way easily, ripping so a small area just under her left collarbone showed. Roy closed his eyes for a moment to center himself before truly looking at the horrifying shape rising from the skin just over her heart.

The shape of a feather rose from her flesh, a tattoo of black and grey against the pale white of her skin. It was dark, all jagged ends and shades of grey, except for one small part of it – a stream of red ran from the middle to the tip, where it dripped off in one big drop of crimson – blood. Roy felt his heart clench as he slowly understood what the tattoo meant. The feather of an angel, dripping blood – angel of death.

"I got this the day of my 11th birthday. I had been there for 3 years, and it was time fore me to be truly accepted after years of training that left me truly ready to be what I was meant to be – a killer. They prepared me for it. Told me there would be a big ceremony, that I would be given my new name." she traced the drop of blood with her small, thin finger. "I was so excited, I was sure that this would be a turning point – with my new name, I could let go of the pain and of the past. Start anew. Forget everything." She turned around, hiding her face from him. "But I'll never forget that day. The pain… it wasn't physical as much as mental. Looking at what they named me, what they engraved into my flesh in a way that could never be undone – I realized that no matter what I do, I would always be the killer they wanted me to be so badly. They put it in my flesh, in a way that I could never forget. This is what they made me, and this is what I'll always be."

She hung her head, as if ashamed of what she had been through. Roy reached a hand out to grasp her shoulder gently.

"Mina, I-"

"Don't say it." He froze.

"Don't say what?"

"That you're so sorry; that it's so awful; that I'm so strong. I don't need to hear it to know that I am, and I don't need your pity to keep on fighting." Roy shook his head once gently, and once again reached out and put a comforting hand on her arm, the other coming around her to move the hair away from her neck and the side of her face. She turned away so he wouldn't be able to see her, and he gently eased her face back until she was turned towards him, yet she still refused to look at him.

"I know you're strong," he whispered softly, "and I know that you've been through some pretty awful things. And I know that you don't need my pity, so I really don't pity you. But I do think that there is something I can say here that you don't know about yourself."

Finally she met his gaze, and her eyes shone at him. She wasn't crying, but there was a layer of shadows in her eyes, as if she were haunted by things and memories she alone could see and they were reflected in them. "Like you said, it's what you are now. Your past turned you into the person you are today; the fighter, the survivor, and the angel. And it's… it's beautiful." he paused, swallowing heavily. "Watching you fight, watching the strength and the conviction that it gave you, it makes me want to be like you." He looked into her eyes, willing her to see what he saw when he looked at her. "You're not a killer; you said so yourself the other day. You're a survivor. And I only wish I could say the same about myself." she smiled sadly at him and shook her head, pursing her lips.

"You don't know," she whispered. "You don't know what I am; what goes on inside my head, how dark and dangerous I am, because you can't see it." she untangled herself from him, ducking away from his arm and taking a step away. "I'm sorry I can't show you, I really am. But trust me; you don't want to see it. It's uglier than you think." She shrugged her shoulders, spreading her arms wide. "I'm uglier than you think." She gave him a small half smile and turned suddenly, bolting away from him and into the shadows, leaving him staring after her in pain, sorrow, confusion and shock.

Pain because he could feel the burn and the scars of her past almost as if they were on his flesh and not hers.

Sorrow because he knew that she truly believed what she was saying, and because he was slowly starting to understand the scale of pain that she had experienced that still haunted her every day.

Confusion because she had just told him key points of her story, of where she had been, and yet he still knew practically nothing. She had spoken wisely, making it clear that there were leaders, there were rules to this place she stayed in, yet she gave no definitive details, still hiding everything about the place she came from and the people she had met there.

And shock because, no matter how many scars she had and how many demons lay under her skin, that girl could _never_ be ugly, yet she still couldn't believe it. She still thought the scars ruined her, tainted her. How did she not realize how magnificent they made her seem? How could she not see it?

* * *

Felicity found Dig sitting with his chin leaning on his clasped hands in front of her computers. As usual, he radiated silent strength and a calm that washed over her immediately. He looked up she approached him, raising his warm, friendly eyes to hers.

"Hey. Mission went well?" she nodded, grinning. He smiled back, moving out of her chair at her shooing gesture and letting her connect the flash drive into her computer. "Where's Oliver?" he asked over the sound of her typing, and she didn't even look up as she answered.

"Went to meet up with Walter about the company. Apparently while all signs point towards Rochev's guilty illegal activity in taking over the company because of her involvement with Slade in the first place, the board is still reluctant to appoint him CEO again. Something about him 'always being late.' this is, of course, unheard of." Dig chuckled and shook his head. "Anyways, he was supposed to meet up with him like 2 hours ago, but after this little problem came up Walter was happy to reschedule, so now he's out." Dig smiled, happy that things were working out well for Oliver on that front. After Thea left and with Moira dead, the closest thing to family Oliver could turn to was Walter. In a split second decision, he had revealed that he was the Arrow, explaining that he was tired of the secrets that pushed the family apart, and although he was shocked, Walter had agreed and accepted it and him warmly.

"And he's ok? Not injured or anything?"

"Perfectly fine, no thanks to him. He had a few scratches that he claimed were 'nothing to worry about', but I insisted on bandaging them anyway. Good thing I did too, because he bled through them within the first 10 minutes after I put them on." Dig shook his head, knowing that was probably exactly what had happened. A few minutes of comfortable silence passed between them before Dig finally spoke up again.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the past week or so." Felicity's hands stilled over the keyboard and she turned to look at him, already opening her mouth to contradict, but he held up a hand and stopped her. "No, listen to me. I know you've been going through really rough times right now, with your sister back, a new threat, and everything happening around. The last time something happened that had such an effect on us we were there together, we handled it together, and I'm sorry that I haven't been there to help you. I know you need the support, and I know you're confused, and I know you have a million questions – because that's you, and I know you." Felicity smiled and gave a small nod. He took another breath. "So what I'm here to say is, I'm here now, as someone who knows you and knows how to help you. Anything you have to say, anything you want to talk about, I'm always happy to listen to you," he finished.

"Can I talk now?" She asked quietly, and Dig nodded with a grin. "First thing's first – you really haven't been around as much lately, but I can totally understand why. I mean, you're having a baby, Dig! How can I blame you for wanting to be close to such an amazing thing?" she put a reassuring hand on his arm. "Second, well… I'm not really sure what to say. There are a million things going on through my head all day long, a million questions, a million emotions, a million possibilities of where this whole thing can take us, and focusing on one is sort of impossible. I mean, it's like telling me to pick my favorite grain of sand – how do you expect me to do that? They all look the same, there are so many to pick from, going through them will just jumble my brain completely, and if that's not enough there's this whole thing going on with Oliver…" she trailed off from her ramble and she felt her cheeks burn as Dig gave her a wide grin and spread his arms as if in invitation.

"Well, I think you just picked your grain of sand for today. So what _is _this whole thing going on with Oliver?"

"Nothing," she muttered, lowering her head, but she knew he wouldn't fall for it. Oliver for them was a special subject, one that he loved teasing her about but also knew to be serious when she needed his advice. After a few moments of silence she cracked, as usual. "Fine I'll tell you…"

She found herself rambling on about how much his attitude towards her changed, how he was suddenly holding her more, how he seemed to suddenly understand her more. She told him of the way he suddenly was there all the time, helping her, supporting her, being there for her, in a way she wasn't used to and didn't understand. She told him about that moment they had shared, so close to each other, and about that strange look in his eyes. She told him what Mina had said about the way she saw it from the outside, and about the talk he had with Laurel that officially ended their relationship for good, and how strange she found his calm reaction to the fact that she heard everything.

Dig, as always, was an excellent listener. He laughed when she said something funny, stopped her when she started rambling off track, and she could see the thoughts swirling in his head as she told him how she couldn't figure it out.

"I think," he said quietly when she was finished, "that for the first time in a long time, it isn't my place to tell you what's going on." Felicity furrowed her brows at him.

"Why not?" he just shook his head, still seemingly lost in thought.

"Because I get the feeling way more is happening here than either of us can understand; but it isn't a really physical change. It seems to me that the change is happening to Oliver himself, something between his own walls that I can't see and understand." Felicity pondered what he said.

"So your advice is…?" she asked after a few seconds of silence. He shrugged.

"See what happens. Something is going on with Oliver right now – he's changing, turning into a lot of things he wasn't when we first met him. Let's see what effect that has on him, and then on you, ok? Because I do understand this much – whatever it is that's changing him, it's changing the way he's seeing you."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked worriedly, but he just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders again.

"I honestly have no idea."

* * *

Oliver burst in through the doorway of the foundry, tugging at his tie and reaching for the remote control of the TV.

"Hello to you too," Felicity said from her corner, swiveling in her chair so she was facing him and raising her eyebrows. "How'd the meeting with Walter go?" He waved an impatient hand in the air.

"Not now, Felicity, you need to see this." The TV flickered to life and the image he was looking for appeared on the screen. Felicity gasped at the sight they were greeted with, and he clenched his fists in anger.

Down the disheveled, battle scarred streets of Starling several figures in green hoods walked around, kicking parked cars and yelling at people with a voice modulator that sounded disturbingly like his.

"I this what you're looking for?" one of them yelled, kicking a rock down the street. "Is this the hero you want?" he asked, spitting the word hero like it was a curse. Oliver exchanged nervous looks with Felicity, who was staring wide eyed at the screen with a hand covering her mouth.

"Do you really think the man under this hood saved your city?" another joined in, yelling and swinging his fists in the air. Policemen stood on the sides and seemed to be trying to close in on them, but something appeared to be stopping them. "Before your superhero came to this city it was a safe one. Yes, crime rates were higher – but catastrophes of the scale you have experienced the past two years were unheard of before he came out into the streets."

"The undertaking! Anyone even hear about it before this one came along?" another yelled, pulling on the green hood mockingly. "I know the answer to that – _no!_"

"Two mayor candidates dead in less than a month apart. Did anything like that ever happen before he came here? I actually think I know that one too – yeah,_ no!_"

"A whole fucking army of super strong criminals. Anything as awful as that ever appear in your dreams, before your modern day Robin Hood came along_ – no!_" the others cheered, and they kept running, up and down the streets, jumping and cheering like madmen. The sound faded out and turned into the voice of the news lady, and Oliver and Felicity once again turned to look at each other in shock.

"What the hell was that?" he growled, clenching and unclenching his fists and staring and the reruns of the video they had just watched. Felicity shook her head, looking slightly haunted by what they had just seen. "Who are those people, and what are they trying to get out of saying things like that?" he asked, frustration radiating off his tense body. He tried to reason with himself, to tell himself that they were obviously out of their minds, but the things they said kept ringing in his ears, making his hands itch and twitch to punch something - anything. Within seconds Felicity was there, standing in front of him.

"I don't know, Oliver. I have no idea who they are, or what they want from us, but I do know that you can't listen to anything they said there. Everything they said was wrong – you know that, right?" she looked at him encouragingly, and his anger crumbled as she stared at him wide-eyed. "You are a hero, Oliver. You have saved this city time after time; those idiots, whoever they are, have no idea how wrong they are. The undertaking was planned years before you came to the city, right?" Oliver nodded, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths as he calmed himself down, using her blue eyes as an anchor. She brought her face closer to his so that she could look him straight in the eye, and once again his heart lurched at her nearness. "Everything to do with Slade was the work of a madman, one driven by hate that you eventually beat by fighting with the exact opposite – love." She looked up at him, her eyes and face shining with conviction, and the air crackled and shifted between them, turning electric as she came closer still, and he leaned towards her too.

"And how did I fight him with love?" he asked quietly, and she swallowed hard before answering him, a little breathless.

"He has the wrong woman. I love you. Do you understand?" she half whispered, her hand coming to rest in his as if transferring something to him. His breath caught in his throat as he understood that she was referring to that moment in the mansion where he had handed her the vial. Where he had looked at her, and said the words that he was afraid would change everything between them, should they ever decide to bring them back up from where they both buried them deep.

And she just did.

The noise from the TV seemed to fade away, the images losing their focus as he stared at her, bending down almost fearfully so that their lips were a hairsbreadth away from hers. "I understand," he whispered softly, his breath ghosting over her lips, causing her little gasps of air to touch his lips.

"Oliver-" Felicity breathed against him, and he sighed at the sound of his name against her lips. He just wanted to let go. He was so tired of fighting the beast that had grown inside of him for longer than he had realized at first. Barely moving, barely breathing. He brought his face a tiny bit closer to hers. Her hand came to rest against his cheek, the other resting against his chest as if any minute she would push him a way. It was a warning, he knew. He couldn't mess this up. And he didn't plan to.

"Felicity," he answered back, leaning in just a little bit more. He heard and felt her soft gasp as almost no space was left between them. He leaned even closer, touching his lips to hers softly, like a whisper of a touch. But that jolt he felt at her lips on his was enough to wake him up entirely. "Felicity," he whispered again, this time running his lips, her name, over her mouth. His hand came to the nape of her neck and he pulled a little, notifying her that he planned on getting closer. She gave the smallest nod, and he tugged on her hair gently, bringing her face closer to his and molding her mouth against his –

"Oh god, this is bad."

He and Felicity sprang apart, jumping around to look at Mina. Felicity was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling as she stared at him wide – eyed. Realization seemed to dawn on her the same time it did on him – he had just kissed her. It was soft, it was barely there – but he had just kissed her. And Mina had stopped them.

He turned to look at Mina, more than a little frustrated and angry by her interruption, but stopped when he saw the pale, scared look on her face as she stared at the screen where the guys in the hoods still walked around and yelled and trashed the streets.

"Mina?" Felicity asked her sister quietly, her voice a little hoarse. "Everything ok?" Mina shook her head.

"It's starting. The attack on the city; it's starting. This was their opening move." She turned wide eyes on them. "They're coming."

**Ahhh they sorta kissed but not really cause they were inturrupted! Seriously, I got excited writing this scene. **

**Now, to anyone who's worried that it might be a little unrealistic, I promise you all loose ends will be tied next chapter, at least on this front, so no worries. I promise this is still gonna be as realistic as possible and I will do my best to do these characters justice.**

**Anyways, PLEASE let me know what you thought of this one...**

**Love you all :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11!**

**So I just wanted to say something important that I've been thinking about for a while, so please read:**

**I am not writing this for the reviews, although of course I am super grateful every time someone reviews/favorites/follows, and please continue. I'm writing this for me, and for the people who are willing to stick with this story - however many those are. **

**However, every time I get any form of feedback from one of you guys it adds fuel to the fire. I love reading reviews because they make me feel good to know that you have things to say, including constructive criticism which is always welcomed. My writing this story doesn't depend on the amount of reviews it gets, but I would honestly just really appreciate it if you took the time anyways to let me know what you thought of the chapters, because it's really important to me.**

**Hope you understand.**

**And on that note - this chapter specifically seriously demands reviews. I have GOT to know what you thought of this one. **

**So here's chapter 11, enjoy and let me know what you thought! :)**

The sharp click of Felicity's heels on the floor jumped against the walls as she scrambled after Mina, her hand reaching out to grab her arm and stop her.

"Enough, Mina, you can't run now. You have to explain what you mean – what's starting? Who's coming?" she asked desperately, but Mina pulled her arm out of her grasp and kept on walking, refusing to look at her. Felicity rushed to keep up with her. "Answer me! you've been hiding these things for long enough, but now whoever these people are have come and started some sort of attack against the city we – I – work to protect. You have to tell me what's going on, please!" she begged. Mina still refused to acknowledge her. With a frustrated growl Felicity put on a burst of speed and came to stand in front of Mina, blocking her path. Mina halted and raised her eyes to look at her. Felicity's breath caught in her throat as she stared into the eyes of a stranger.

"Move." the word sounded choked and her voice sounded raw, but Felicity couldn't bring herself to listen as she stared at her sister. Her pupils were blown up, swallowing most of the color in her eye, and the blue that framed the black seemed darker, more like a stormy ocean than the usual bright blue. But the fear… god, it was inhuman. She had the look of an animal caged, one that was ready to burst out any second. She looked wild, out of control like all she needed was the air outside her prison to breath and she could live. It was terrifying. "Move, Felicity, please," she whispered again, and Felicity dropped her arm to her side, still staring at her eyes in slight horror and begging to see a sign of humanity and true emotion beyond the raw fear.

"Mina, I am begging you. Tell me what's going on." She tried again. For a second something flickered in the dark eyes, a blink of hope as she looked like she might give in and say it. But it was gone as quickly as it came, and she shook her head.

"I can't," she ground out. "I'm sorry."

"Mina, please-"

"No." she dropped her gaze and walked straight past Felicity, leaving her staring in shock and horror at the spot her unfamiliar sister had been standing in seconds before. She brought shaking hands to cover her face, turning around with a hand on her mouth and the other coming to wrap protectively around her body.

"Are you ok?" she jumped at the quiet question and turned to see Oliver step out of the doorway, already coming towards her as if to comfort her. Just seeing him made her heart race and her jumble of emotions take another drop as she recalled what he had done minutes ago. She raised watery eyes to him and made a strangled sound, holding out her hand to stop him. She couldn't handle him too right now.

"Please don't," she said quietly, and he halted on his tracks looking confused.

"Don't what?"

"Don't… just – just don't come near me, Oliver, please. Leave me alone."

"Felicity-"

"S-stop!" she said forcefully, squeezing her eyes shut as another flood of confusion and hurt washed over her at the sound of her name on his lips, sounding so gentle, just like he had before. "I need to be alone right now. Please," she added brokenly again, "just go. Go away." A flash of hurt passed through his eyes, but it was replaced with understanding almost immediately. He nodded his head, pursing his lips.

"Ok," he said quietly, taking a step back. "I'll leave you alone. But if you need anything…" he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath that caused his perfectly schooled features to melt into creases on his forehead and a frown on his mouth. He opened his eyes, and once again he was wearing a mask. "If you need anything, I'm here." With a final nod in her direction he walked away, leaving her with the guilt and the confusion threatening to overwhelm her as she sank to the ground.

* * *

Risking her life and doing dangerous things always made Mina feel alive. She loved soaring through the air, rolling in the dirt, challenging those who think they're stronger than her, and then proving everything and everybody wrong by living through another day. It felt like she was defying death yet again, as if she were saying, 'I'm still here, bitch. And you can't stop me from staying.'

This was why she went straight to the streets whenever she felt her emotions were getting the best of her; whenever she felt that she needed a release. And this was also why she found herself running through the dark streets of the sleeping Starling City, running and leaping, determined to just go wherever – as long as she could run away for a while. Seeing the plans she had heard unfold for weeks come together was horrifying, a slap to the face that reminded her that she had a job to do, and she was carrying the lives of millions of innocent people on her shoulders even as she ran in the dark, letting the wind beat against her body and feeling its sting on her cheeks.

She didn't care about any creeps out in the streets – she could take them, nor did she care about anything that could go wrong out there, in the dark and alone. She could handle anything – anything but her emotions that had a tendency of getting the best of her.

She was terrified of losing the iron grip she had on her emotions; emotions were powerful, frighteningly so. They had the ability to play with your mind, your heart, affect you in ways that could indeed result in happiness and peace – but in her life, they had always caused her pain, and had nearly killed her more than once. She tried to avoid letting her emotions rule her, guide her. She didn't trust her heart; it had been broken too many times.

She wasn't, by any means, a person without feelings; she was still a human being. There is a fine line between the man and the monster, the human and the inhuman. Mina didn't believe that your actions were what determined whether you are doing the right, humane and ethical thing. It was your thoughts, your emotions – your 'want,' rather than your 'do.' A single action – the pull of a trigger, the taking of a life – in two different situations was looked at entirely differently. On the one side a killer, a murderer, and a monster. On the other side a soldier, a hero, a savior. The same action made in both times – but the want, the reasoning and the emotions behind the act are what truly made it either human or the act of a monster.

She still wasn't sure what exactly she was – a hero, or a killer. Yes, she had emotions and she knew what she wanted, she knew her right from wrong. But she used her ability to overlook her emotions many times in her life, and she felt that that ability turned her into more of a borderline. She wasn't a cold blooded killer, and when she killed she felt its effect on her. But she could never be a hero either; she had done things that would never leave her soul, things that tainted her in a way unfixable. She had accepted that long ago – that she could never be a real hero.

But the look in Felicity's eyes when she had looked at her, back there at the foundry, and for a second let her see the monster inside… it made her believe that getting Felicity to see her for what she is and accepting it would be a lot harder. She was the kind of person who always looked for the good in other people; the kind that needed to connect to others, and only knew how to do it through her light by connecting it with theirs.

Mina reached the edge of the city, breathing heavily but feeling free, the 'now leaving Starling City' sign looking down at her as if daring her to leave. She wasn't leaving, she knew that. She wasn't allowed to; she had a job to do. Besides, she didn't want to. She had found her sister, after years of only dreaming of seeing her again.

She found Oliver, a man a lot like her, a man who knew the pain of secrets and of scars that seemed to define who you are, and who seemed to care about her.

She found John, someone who is always there for everyone and for her too, the kind of person who had the ability to help you just by listening to what you have to say.

And she found Roy, a young man who seemed to genuinely want to get to know her. A boy who wasn't scared away by her darkness, who didn't feel strange knowing she could fight and probably kick his ass, and who didn't think she was ugly beneath the layer of marred skin she had shown him, and that he had accepted.

She knew all that could change easily; she knew that the connection she was making with them could disappear in an instant, but she couldn't let go of it just yet. She was strong; she could handle rejection, and so she wasn't afraid of having her heart broken and losing them. She could handle it all.

As much as it scared her, she was finding a home in this team of heroes. She was finding people who cared about her, understood her, and treated her like she deserved to be given what she wanted. Like she meant something. It wasn't right; she was supposed to be able to stay detached, as much as reuniting with a long lost sister allowed. And yet she was getting sucked in and deep, far deeper than she had planned and far stronger than she was comfortable with.

Her need to help them and explain was becoming greater by the minute as each found their way farther into her heart. The problem was, she knew what would happen if she explained. All the targets she would be giving them, people they might know, were easy to get to as one – but as a group they formed an army of hate that could easily kill Oliver, John, Roy and Felicity. She couldn't afford to give them that information not because it itself had the ability to kill them – to Mr. Noels they were dead no matter what. She couldn't let them know because she was afraid of what they would do with that information, the war it could lead them into too soon – easily straight to death.

* * *

"Felicity." a gentle voice pulled at her, dragging her back into a reality she didn't feel like going back to. "Felicity, come on. Wake up." a hand on her arm jolted her body awake as she centered her mind on the voice so she could wake it up too. "How did you sleep like that for so long, it must have been insanely uncomfortable," Roy muttered as he lifted her up so she was half sitting half leaning against the wall rather than laying sprawled on the floor as she had when she had fallen asleep.

"Ugh," was her answer, as she scrubbed an arm over her face and stretched her tense muscles with a groan. "What D'you want?" she mumbled, squinting up at him through her half closed lids. He grinned at her, a boyish grin that made her smile back tiredly, one that reminded her that he was still so young and so was she. They were allowed to smile once in a while.

"I want to know what you did to the big guy."

"Huh?" she asked, her still asleep brain unable to understand what he wants from her. He smiled again and shook his head, coming closer to her.

"What'd you do to Oliver? He's been brooding the whole time since I came here a few hours ago."

"He's always brooding, Roy," Felicity muttered, turning away from him and back towards the wall, still not sure why he would turn to her.

"No, but this is worse. And he keeps on sending me to check on you, so I'm guessing it has something to do with you." Felicity opened her eyes again and looked at him, raising her brows. Nothing had happened that she could think of the past 24 hours that would make him even more broody. They had come back from the mission, which had been a success, she had that talk with Dig and she worked for a while while he was out with Walter, and then he came back and –

"Oh my god!" she bolted upright, so fast she nearly banged her head on Roy's, who was leaning in next to her.

"Whoa, what is it?" he asked, grasping her shoulders and giving her a worried if slightly amused look.

"Oh god, he- we- those guys on TV and then he was all weird and then Mina interrupted us, and then she went and I told him to go away and- oh god I am a terrible person-"

"Felicity, whoa, calm down! I can't understand a word you're saying. What happened with these guys on TV and what did Mina interrupt?" Felicity opened her mouth to answer, calming her breathing so she could explain, when she remembered the things she had said to him. With a frantic shake of her head she went straight back into her hysterical rant, closing her eyes and gesturing wildly with her arms.

"Oh no, I was so mean to him he was just trying to help! Of course he's broody, and I mean to push him away like that right after he had just _kissed _me-"

"Wait, what?! Oliver kissed you?"

"Yes," she groaned, putting her head in her hands. She peeked up from between her fingers at him when she heard him chuckle and she saw him shaking his head, smiling widely. "What?" she asked quietly. "Why are you laughing? And how is this funny to you, I feel terrible!"

"Felicity, I don't even know what you did, but – you just told me Oliver kissed you. I need a minute to appreciate that. Man… I've been wondering when it'll happen. So what happened? Start from the beginning this time and try to make sense, I need to understand this." She glared at him, blowing a strand of hair away from her face.

With a roll of her eyes she proceeded to unfold the events of last night from the moment Oliver had burst into the foundry.

"So basically, I was talking to him and explaining to him how I saw it and how he should see it, and suddenly he was _right there. _He was just standing directly in front of me; I don't even know when we had time to get so close. And I just… I froze. I didn't want to move, but I was afraid of what he might do. I kept on waiting for him to step away, to make up some lame excuse of something he has to do, but instead he… he just-"

"Kissed you?" Roy supplied with a grin, and she glared at him again. She felt her cheeks heat as she looked at the ground, suddenly feeling shy.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Yeah, he kissed me." Roy raised his brows and gave her an incredulous look.

"So why are you feeling like a terrible person? Did you like, not kiss him back?"

"Roy!" she scoffed. "Of course I kissed him back! Or I would have, if Mina hadn't interrupted." Roy's eyes lit up with even more amusement.

"Wait, are you telling me he kissed you for the first time, and you were interrupted by _your sister_? Wow, she must have loved that." Felicity laughed, picturing what Mina's reaction would have been like if she had found them under different circumstances. She probably would have teased them to no end, and told everyone exactly all the details of everything that happened. But she didn't do that – and that thought made Felicity sober almost immediately.

"Yeah, well, she didn't exactly notice…" she went on explaining what they had heard from Mina, the things she had said, and the way she ran away. Roy's smile changed quickly into a frown that only deepened as she explained more.

"Hold on." Roy said as she finished explaining how Mina ran away. "She just got up and ran? Didn't even say where she's going?" he seemed nervous, and Felicity shrugged helplessly.

"Not a word. She just got up and ran. I could track her, you know, she still has the tracker she'd activated when that guy had taken her. But I feel like it's not my place to find her right now; she needs to come back to us." She gave him a small smile, hoping he'd understand. To her surprise, he nodded after a few seconds.

"You… you're probably right. She's not one to run away from something; she's stubborn, isn't she?" He grinned fondly, and Felicity had to smile back. He seemed to be connecting with Mina, getting closer to her. Had it been any other guy and had they been normal sisters she would have been nervous, but she knew her sister could handle herself, and she knew that Roy cared about someone wholeheartedly. He gave all of himself to someone who he believed deserved it. "She came to us, and what she said is 'it's starting.' That means that this is just the beginning, and she came here to get a job done – she isn't gonna run away before the end."

"Of course not. But everything about this is so difficult; it's just messing with my head. I'm doing things without thinking; I'm saying things without meaning them. I'm hurting people around me, and that just comes back straight to hurt me." Roy tilted his head.

"Is this where you explain what happened with Oliver?" she took a deep breath.

"Yup. But remember – I feel terrible about this. I don't need you to make me feel worse."

As she told him of the things she said, of how she pushed Oliver away, to her surprise rather than looking angry, or shocked, he started smiling, shaking his head, as if he knew a secret that he found very amusing.

"Why are you finding this so funny?" she asked grumpily, after she finished explaining and he had just smiled again and shaken his head - again. He grinned at her.

"Because you're both acting like idiots."

"Excuse me?" Felicity raised her brows.

"You heard me. You have no reason to feel like a terrible person – you were feeling overwhelmed and you took it out on Oliver cause he was there, in the form of pushing him away. And Oliver has no reason to be all broody," he shrugged his shoulders, looking at her with sincerity. "He of all people knows what it's like to push people away, and he knows what it's like to run away from emotions. He should understand."

"Ok…" Felicity nodded, understanding what he meant. Oliver had pushed her out more than once, and he wore a mask every day. But one thing she still didn't understand. "But why do you think it's funny that he seems to be so affected by it?"

"Because he's acting like a lovesick puppy!" Roy said, grinning widely at the disbelieving tilt of her head. "Look at him! Brooding just because you pushed him away? How many times did Laurel push him away when he first got back here? How many times did Sara push him away?" Felicity shrugged, not knowing the answer. "A lot. Thea told me about more than one occasion. And in all those times he took it out differently – he fought, he trained – and the one time _you_ push him away, he turns into a total wimp who can't bring himself to think of anything other than you." Felicity shook her head with a smile, and he raised his hands and shrugged his shoulders in a joking manner. "Come on, don't tell me that isn't at least a little bit funny. He's acting like a girl. You have turned Oliver Queen into an emotional, depressed teenage girl."

"Oh, enough already!" Felicity swapped playfully at Roy's arm, unable to stop the laughter bubbling in her chest at such a ridiculous comparison. She grinned at him, thankful that he made her smile, and shook her head at his childlike jokes and interpretation of the situation. He just continued giving her goofy grins, once again reminding her that he was young – not even 20, and still had moments of playfulness. "You don't really believe all that crap you just gave me now, do you? Cause you know that he can still kick your ass, even being an 'emotional teenage girl'." Roy smiled.

"Of course everything I said now is bullshit. He's definitely still a – you know - man, but I knew those things would make you smile, and they did." Felicity sobered, tilting her head and smiling adoringly at him. He could be so sweet to the people he cared about, and she was loving this side of him; he was turning into family.

"Well, thank you." She said quietly, and he shrugged his shoulders with a small grin, immediately calming down and relaxing into a more serious manner.

"Happy to help. And now you," he pointed at her, "need to go talk to him. cause there is no way I am training with that guy before he calms down, and you're the only one who can do that right now. Now go ahead." He made a shooing gesture. "Cause I can't stand watching him like that for much longer."

"You are an ass. Stop teasing him, it's not nice." Felicity scolded, getting up and stretching her back, letting it pop.

"Whatever," he answered, rolling his eyes. With a final look that quickly changed into a grin she turned around and walked away towards the main training room, where she knew Oliver was waiting. As she got closer a flock of butterflies took a permanent residence in her stomach and the smile fell from her lips, all playfulness gone. It was time for her to ask the question stirring in her brain for weeks. It was time for her to understand.

* * *

A soft knock on the door made Oliver turn around as Felicity stepped inside, her bare feet padding softly against the floor. Even in rumpled clothes and her make up smeared, she looked beautiful. There was something so natural in that look, and in the fact that she felt it was ok to walk up to him like that – she wasn't like a lot of women he knew, who felt they needed to look sharp and perfect all the time. She wasn't afraid to show him the less than perfect sides of herself, both inside and out. And to him, that only made her all the more appealing. She didn't hide – she laid herself bare, at all times.

"Hey," she said quietly, giving him a small, stiff smile. He gave her a tired smile in return, looking up at her expectantly. There were many things he wanted to say – but she had approached him; she needed to say what was on her mind first. She took a deep breath.

"There are a lot of things I don't get about last night," she started. "Who those men were – what do they want, what do they have to do with this threat on the city and the Arrow that Mina knows about? Why did Mina run, and what did she mean when she said something was starting? Why did I push you away, when you were only trying to help…" his eyes snapped to hers and he opened his mouth to tell her it was ok, but she held a hand up and closed her eyes. "Please just let me finish. Let me say what I have to say, because I'm not sure I'll be able to for much longer." Oliver pursed his lips.

"Ok," he nodded after a few seconds. "Ok, go on." She opened her eyes and gave him a grateful smile.

"Thank you. Anyways, I'm still not sure what exactly made me push you away – maybe it was all just too much, maybe I needed to be alone – I don't know. But the things that confused me the most – the one thing that even if I tried I couldn't make sense of – is the fact that you kissed me." she looked at him intently, with a gaze he couldn't break if he tried. "You kissed me, Oliver. You made the move, you closed the distance, you kissed me, after so many times that you ran away." She shrugged, spreading her arms open in a gesture of helplessness. "Can you really blame me for pushing you away? I have no idea what happened there, Oliver! And I don't know what it meant, why you did it, how it affects us – I'm searching in the dark right now, and I haven't found an answer yet, which is why I came to you."

He looked at her, and she looked back, breathing heavily from her rant. "Please," she finally whispered softly. "I need to understand this; I need to understand you. This is the one side of you I never get, and it seems to be the side you're showing to me most lately, so I need to understand, and I need you to explain. What is this?" she looked around at the air between them, as if searching for an answer in it. "What are we doing?"

Oliver held his breath, not daring to answer. What was he supposed to say? He couldn't say that it was nothing, because it would tear them both apart in ways almost unfixable. He couldn't say it was just something small, dismiss it for something unimportant that would pass, because it wasn't, and in time realizing that would only confuse her more.

But he _definitely _couldn't tell her what he really felt – he definitely could not let her in so deep, give in to his emotions and his want just out of pure selfishness, and let her into a world where she could get hurt even more.

"I… I don't know." He answered finally, raising his eyes to look at her and hoping he was doing a good enough job of hiding what he felt. "Maybe… maybe we should just give it time and see where this – whatever this is – goes. And maybe it won't go anywhere, and everything will return back to normal." Yes, that would work. Go around the topic, swerve around the answer. He looked into her eyes and she held his gaze, and he prayed for her to agree; to let him have another chance, and this time he would control himself. He felt as if she were staring straight into him, seeing past the veil he had put up and calling him out on his bullshit just through the look in her eyes. Finally she lowered her gaze, shaking her head.

"I should have known you wouldn't be so easy. I should have known you would hide." Oliver's heart jumped both in fear that she _knew_, and in longing. She could read him like an open book. She knew him, and he wanted someone who really knew him. "What are you so afraid of?" she asked, her voice rising suddenly. Oliver lowered his gaze, knowing he couldn't answer her honestly. "No, this is enough. Look at me. Look at me!" she begged, her fingers wrapping under his chin and forcing him to look back up at her.

"I can't do this, Felicity." He whispered, his voice sounding weak even to his own ears. "I can't answer that, so can we please just move on and see what happens?" he watched her hopeful eyes crumble, replaced with a burning intensity as she let go of his jaw almost too forcefully, causing him to rock back a little bit. She walked away from him, scrubbing her hand over her eyes, and putting her hands on her hips.

"No. you know what? No. I am done being so confused, I am done asking these questions, I am done deluding myself and I am done ignoring the truth! I need to know what's happening, and not just the past few days – this is something that's been brewing practically since we met." She turned to him again, advancing. He raised his hands in a gesture of peace as she approached him like a whirlwind.

"Felicity-"

"Stop it! Stop treating me with kid gloves, Oliver, I am a big girl! I can handle rejection, ok?" all the fight suddenly drained out of her and her arms slumped, the look she gave him turning almost desperate. "If you're saying that it was a mistake I can handle that too. If you're just saying those stuff so it can fade away and we can never talk about it again it's ok, just don't lie to me about it, ok? I need to hear it." Oliver raised his eyes to hers, the monster in his chest screaming for him to just say it, to give up. Something must have shown in his eyes, a piece of his despair, because Felicity then dropped her gaze and nodded her head. "Ok. It's ok, I get it. It was a mistake, and we're gonna forget about it." Oliver jerked up.

"Felicity, no-"

"Enough, Oliver, I said it's ok, so don't make it any worse, please!" she turned around and walked away, heading for the door with a defeated slump to her shoulders, and Oliver jumped up.

He was at a crossroads and he knew it. He was given a choice that held the weight of their whole lives and future – if he chose either way, there was no going back from it. This decision, going both ways, could destroy him. But it could also turn out to be the best decision he ever makes. And it was time to make it. With a deep breath and a prayer that this wasn't a mistake he made his choice.

"Felicity!" he ran after her, reaching out for her hand and pulling her towards him. He met her angry, tear filled blue eyes with a steady gaze.

"God, Oliver, can't you take a hint? I don't want to be around you right now – and this time I mean it." she said, struggling out of his grasp.

"Stop fighting me."

"I'm not fighting you, you're fighting yourself!" she screamed, beating on his chest with her small fists and looking up at him. "You're so confusing – one second you need me, the next you can't be near me cause you're too dangerous." He couldn't take it any more. "One second I have so much to give and am so important to the team and the next I'm a _mistake_, so let me tell you this – I do not like being anyone's mistake, so get your shit together cause I can't-" he never found out what she couldn't when his lips crashed onto hers with a bruising force.

For a second she froze, her body tensing under his hands in shock, before she tentatively responded, moving her lips over his and letting her body melt towards him. A sigh escaped his lips as she opened up to him slowly, as if she was scared he would run away again, but he was done running. He broke the kiss; bringing her body so it was crushed against his and forcing her shocked gaze up to his.

"You are not a mistake," he whispered, bringing his face closer to hers and running the words he had thought practically since he met her over her lips. "I would be dead without you." she gasped against his mouth.

"Oliver-"

"I mean it. You could never be a mistake." He brushed his lips over hers once more and this time she opened readily, twining her arms up around his neck as his hands lowered from her shoulders to her waist.

"You better mean that," she whispered softly against his lips. He grinned.

"I do."

"Good. Cause I will kill you if you're lying."

"I'm not." She smiled against him, stepping even closer.

"Good." She whispered again.

* * *

Felicity couldn't wipe the giddy grin off her face even if she tried. It simply refused to come off.

Oliver had kissed her – really kissed her this time. He made it clear he felt something. He explained to her in the best possible way what all those moments meant.

And she knew that she shouldn't get ahead of herself – there was still a lot to figure out. She still wasn't sure how it would affect their lives, where, what it meant, and how far it would go.

But there was definitely something there, and she couldn't stop smiling.

A beep woke her out of her daze of sunshine and unicorns, and she jumped in her chair and swerved around to look for the source on her screens.

"Everything alright?" Oliver asked, his voice strained as he finished with a series of god-knows-how-many push ups and stood up to look towards her.

While they were in here it seemed an unspoken rule that they weren't going to do anything but work; the lair was the place for the Arrow, not Oliver Queen, and his I.T specialist, not Felicity Smoak. It already made being around him and making sense of things easier, although she knew they would be having a talk about it soon enough.

"Not sure, one second… ok, it's coming from Mina's tracker."

"Is she ok?" he asked, coming to stand over her and look at the screens, his arm resting on the back of her chair. It took her a few moments to focus on his question, and when she did she went straight back to tapping.

"Uh, well she activated the alert button; the one that you press when you need help." She turned worried eyes on him. "Do you think she's ok?"

"Calm down, I'm sure she's fine. Is there any way we can see her?"

"Hold on," Felicity typed a little more, and a few seconds later the footage from a security camera around where the tracker showed Mina popped up.

For a split second Felicity couldn't make out anything, and then she realized what she was seeing and gasped audibly, her hand coming to rest against her mouth.

She could see Mina, wearing the same clothes she had when she ran out and looking tired and weary, tense as if ready to blot. She looked scared. But worse than that, she could see the face of a man with small, black eyes and a frown, light skin with black hair. The suit was still the same, as was the perfect posture.

"Felicity, what is it?" she shook her head in horror.

"That man…" she whispered, staring at the screen in shock.

"What about him?"

"That man is Jared Noels." She said quietly, turning to look at him in horror. His grip on the back of her chair tightened as he understood. "That's Jared Noels, Mina's father. What the hell is he doing here in Starling? And how did he find her?" Oliver shrugged helplessly, and she turned back to look at the screen again.

The grin she was wearing before was long gone.

**I really really have to know what you thought! Were you pleased with what I did in this chapter, or did it seem too sudden or fast? Anything you have to say I will accept as long as it isn't all-out judgement and criticism without consideration of my feelings.**

**So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and now I should probably start working on the next one...**

**Love you all :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here we go, chapter 12...**

**I just wanted to say - thank you so so soooo so much to everyone who reviewed! You guys are amazing, I can't even explain how much I love you all.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter - and please let me know what you thought of it :)**

_"Felicity, what is it?" she shook her head in horror._

_"That man…" she whispered, staring at the screen in shock._

_"What about him?" _

_"That man is Jared Noels." She said quietly, turning to look at him in horror. His grip on the back of her chair tightened as he understood. "That's Jared Noels, Mina's father. What the hell is he doing here in Starling? And how did he find her?" Oliver shrugged helplessly, and she turned back to look at the screen again._

_The grin she was wearing before was long gone._

Felicity knew what Oliver would say as soon as she saw the cold look in his eyes.

It had taken little over 3 minutes for her to call Roy and Dig and get them to come to the foundry.

It had taken a little more than 10 minutes for them both to arrive, and in that time Oliver had put his suit on and Felicity had found the exact location of Mina and Jared Noels.

In not much longer than 6-7 minutes Roy and Dig had been filled in and were ready to leave as well.

All in all, 20 minutes more or less were what it took for Oliver to shut himself down emotionally, to turn into the Arrow, and to put on the mask and the hood mentally as well as physically.

So Felicity wasn't surprised when he caught her arm and turned her towards him as she was putting her shoes on, and whispered quietly in a emotionless voice, "you're staying here, Felicity."

"Not an option." she responded, tugging her arm out of his grip and reaching down to fasten the buckle on her shoe. She heard his sigh and caught his hand balling into fists out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored it, focusing on the task at hand.

"Felicity," he very nearly growled, putting a hand on her shoulder, "you can't come with us. I can't let you come with us."

"Right," she answered curtly, her tone completely sarcastic, pursing her lips and refusing to look up at him. She couldn't let him see how much it hurt, to hear his voice so empty, to feel his touch but not feel his usual warmth, and to look at him and see a shell, not the man who had just kissed her. He waited a few more moments like he was expecting her to actually back down, and when she didn't he spoke up again.

"Last time I asked you not to come with us to your sister you ended up agreeing with my reasons, right? So will you please just trust that I have my reasons now too and do what I'm asking you to?" his voice rose a little but the lifeless tone stayed the same. With a sigh Felicity lifted her head to look at him.

"I do trust you, Oliver. I do."

"Then why aren't you listening to me?" with a frustrated frown she rose, standing up and shrugging. It took her a few moments to answer, and she gave him a small, sad smile and shook her head, waiting another few moments to get control of her voice and the tears that were threatening to spill.

"Because this isn't you talking." She finally whispered, and Oliver's brows shot up, but other than that he showed no sign that her answer affected him in any way.

"If it's not me then who is it? You're not making a lot of sense right now, Felicity." God he was so frustrating. Still wearing the stupid mask. Still refusing to show her what he was really feeling. Felicity clenched her hands, wanting to scream, or cry, or break something, but she knew that she had to stay calm if she wanted to get him to let her in.

"I mean," she said through clenched teeth, voice perfectly controlled, "that the person I'm seeing right now isn't the Oliver Queen I know and trust. That Oliver would let me see him – he wouldn't hide." She said, reaching up and taking the hood off with a jerk, revealing his face. "That Oliver," she continued, "would speak with his voice – that gentle, patient voice he uses with the few people left that he cares about, not this monotone one you're using right now." She jabbed a finger at his chest accusingly, the tears she had been holding in falling and shattering on her flushed cheeks. "That Oliver would look me in the eye and tell me what's wrong. He wouldn't order me around, or tell me what to do. He would ask, like he always has." Something flickered behind his empty eyes and she stepped closer, searching desperately for more. "That Oliver – _my Oliver_," she finally whispered, bringing a hand to touch his cheek. His eyes closed and he leaned into her touch, a sign that he was giving in, and she continued quietly, so he would hear her, but barely. "My Oliver wouldn't be afraid to show me that he's scared."

"Felicity-" her name left his lips in a breathy, almost desperate plea. And it was _his_ voice – the emotion in it almost too much for her to bear.

"You made a choice, Oliver." She said quietly. "You made a choice that I know you were terrified to make; but the person I saw when you made it – the Oliver who's eyes I looked into, the one who kissed me… that Oliver is my Oliver. That Oliver is the hero, the good man, and the man who can do and beat the unthinkable." His eyes flew open and they bored into hers, finally raw and bare and open for her to read, and she gave a relieved sigh as she finished what she had to say. "That side of you is the side that I can relate to the most – that side is broken, and scared, and needs help sometimes. And you know I'll give it to you," she whispered fiercely, holding his face in her hands firmly. "You know I'll always do everything I can to help you, right?" he opened his mouth, and for a second no sound came out. But when it did it was raw and vulnerable and real.

"I know. Of course I know." She gave him a small smile and rubbed her thumb over his cheek soothingly; bringing one hand to rest at the hair at the nape of his neck so she was holding him as close as she dared.

"Then let me help you now. You're scared; and that's ok. But tell me how to help you, and I will." He shook his head and she tightened her grip on him, encouraging him.

"Don't come." her hands stilled for a second and her body tensed slightly, but that didn't stop him from saying again, "don't come. Stay here, Felicity, please."

"Oliver-" she tried to talk, but he stopped her with a shake of his head.

"Please listen to me." the way he said it, so brokenly, caused her throat to clench and she felt her resolve and fight disappearing. This was a side of him that she could trust – with her sister, with her life, with anything. And she trusted him to get Mina out of whatever situation she was in.

"You're scared of me coming with you?"

"Yes." there was no hesitation in his answer. She looked at him, waiting for him to explain, but she knew he wouldn't. If she asked she knew he would tell her, but she felt that now was not the time to push him too far. So she didn't.

"If I stay here will it help you?" she asked hesitantly. He nodded.

"Yes."

"Then I'll stay." His eyebrows rose and she could see his disbelief, but she gave him a small and encouraging smile. "I do trust you, and I do trust that you have a good reason to feel like that. And I do trust that you'll take care of my sister – which you will, right?" he nodded,

"Of course."

"Then I have nothing to worry about, right? Everything will be ok, and I'll stay here and wait if that's what you need." A slow smile spread across his face and she just had to smile back. "What's that I'm seeing? Could it be a smile?" she wondered, leaning teasingly closer to him, and his grin grew even wider and slightly more dangerous. She raised a questioning brow and he just shook his head, grinning.

Quick as a flash his hands were at her hips, pulling her body against his and causing her to gasp softly as she wound her hands tighter around his neck instinctively.

"You're amazing." He whispered. And then his lips were on hers.

It was short and sweet, an obvious thank you and bearing a lot of weight beyond the action alone. And yet it still had such an effect on her – she practically melted into Oliver's arms, and she felt his satisfied grin against her mouth.

"You should go." she said quietly, looking up at him and taking a step back.

"I should." He answered, looking back at her and taking a step closer.

"Oliver," she warned, and he smiled devilishly.

"Felicity," he answered, drawing every syllable out long. With a roll of her eyes she reached up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before brushing her lips over his again.

"That's all you're getting." His annoyed sigh caused her to giggle, and her cheeks reddened at the childish sound but Oliver smiled widely at it.

"Fine. But I expect a reward when I get back later." Felicity raised her eyebrows playfully at him and he grinned, winking. "Just kidding."

"I don't know," she muttered, stepping closer boldly. "Do your job well; I might just have to thank you later." His smile faltered for a moment as his eyes darkened and desire flashed across his face.

"I'll get it done. No need to worry about that."

* * *

Jared Noels had cornered Mina in a dark street that during the day was full of shoppers and tourists, but at night it was eerily empty and quiet. As they approached the two figures standing on the sidewalk from the roof of a nearby building Roy couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. It wasn't like that time the man had kidnapped her to kill her, it was worse. Much worse. And that was because for the first time since he had known her, Mina looked scared. They came as close as they could and crouched low, not attacking yet, and Roy strained his ears before hearing the faint voices coming from below. Mina was talking.

"… Still don't get why you're here. I told you; I know you want me dead. So for the last time, if there are killers on the roof or in the trees why don't you just send them out here already? You've wasted enough time." In the dim light Roy only just saw the twisted smile spread across the man's face.

"As shocking as it may sound, Mina, I personally don't want you dead." His voice was cold, calculated, but coated in a layer of sweetness and obvious wisdom.

"Why not?" she asked, her voice betrayed her disbelief and wariness.

"I have my reasons." Was his vague response, but that didn't seem to satisfy Mina, who took a careful step closer to him.

"I don't believe you. You do want me dead; I betrayed you. I left the project, left your life's work, and I know you're not a forgiving person." He smiled again and shook his head, reaching out to place his hands on her shoulders. She jerked away from him, and her scared reaction was what jolted Roy into action.

"Oliver. We need to get her out of here now." He whispered, and Oliver nodded without looking at him. His eyes were still firmly trained on Mina, who was walking slowly away from Jared Noels as he kept walking closer to her.

"These are special circumstances." Noels was saying, "And I believe that you are too good and valuable to waste. My partners agree less, that's true…" he shrugged uncaringly. "But if you come with me now I can help them see, and we can all walk away and pretend this never happened."

"I'm afraid that's not an option." Oliver's modulated voice boomed across the empty street, causing both the figures on the street and Roy and Diggle themselves to jump up and turn to him. He dropped gracefully to the ground, landing on his feet and turning to stare at the man in the suit. Roy and Diggle followed, and together they formed a semi circle in front of the pair. "Mina is coming with us." Oliver said quietly, his tone of voice daring Noels to challenge him. Mina stood rooted to the spot, looking unsure of what to do. Oliver was a terrifyingly strong figure, but Noels didn't seem affected by it at all. In fact, he studied each of them in turn, his grin growing wider and his eyes more calculating as he took the 3 of them in.

"The famous Arrow. I've heard a lot about you." He said calmly. Oliver tilted his head.

"Really? Because I haven't heard a lot about you, but what I did hear I didn't like at all. And people I don't like usually learn that the hard way," He said, and Noels raised his hands in a gesture of peace.

"No need to be so impulsive, no one needs to fight. There is a lot you don't know about me; maybe you wouldn't be so threatening if you knew a little more."

"I doubt it," Oliver shot back, his fingers tensing around the bow he held. A few seconds of tense silence passed as Noels studied each of them again. Finally Roy couldn't take the silence, nor could he stand to see Mina so shaken where he couldn't reach her to comfort her.

"Mina, come here." He said, and she jumped and lifted her eyes to his in shock. Her eyes flitted between him and Jared Noels, but Roy said calmly again, "Mina, get over here." Noels turned to look back at her again, a teasing smile on his face and an interested glint in his eye. Mina tensed visibly, looking around uncomfortably.

"Mina," Diggle spoke up quietly, "it's ok, just come over here." His calm tone of voice caused her to relax a little, but once again she faltered when she looked back at Noels, who gestured for her to go ahead with a grin.

"Please," he said. "Feel free. But I'm giving you a chance right now that you won't be getting again. Next time I see you I will not be as forgiving." Roy tensed at the threat, and at the same time wondered how a father could talk to his daughter that way. He didn't seem to treat her like his child, nor did she seem to see him as her father. They had strange relationship he couldn't understand just yet.

"I don't need your forgiveness and I don't want it. I left for a reason that still stands," Mina almost whispered, edging closer by the minute to the three men. "I am not coming back to you or the project. That's final." Her voice grew stronger as she spoke with more confidence, like she believed in what she was saying and it strengthened her. Something flashed behind Noels' dark eyes, but was gone as soon as he schooled his features once again into a perfectly uncaring mask.

"Ok then," he nodded. "Your choice. But you know the power of our attacks, Mina." She faltered again, fear creeping into her features again. "Next time you will be on the wrong side of it."

"You are standing here, alone, in front of 3 armed and trained men and a girl you obviously know is a dangerous weapon. It's not your place to make the threats now, I'm afraid." Oliver said through clenched teeth. Noels grinned at him, and then shrugged.

"It's not your place to underestimate me, I'm afraid." He answered quietly. Oliver tensed and shook his head.

"Stay away from us. Leave, and if I ever see you anywhere near anyone I care about I won't hesitate to kill you." Noels gave another nod and then smiled coldly at Mina.

"We will meet again soon."

"I know." She answered, finally coming close enough for Roy to grab her hand and haul her closer to him, wrapping an arm around her protectively. As soon as she was in his arms she relaxed, leaning in towards him. He could feel her body shaking.

"Goodbye, for now." Noels turned to leave. They all watched him warily as he walked away. At the last second he turned around. "And say hello to Felicity from me."

"Do not talk about Felicity!" "

"You stay the hell away from her, you understand?"

"Watch it, you son of a bitch!"

All 3 men jumped up protectively at hearing the name, and he chuckled as if he found it very amusing. With a mock salute he turned and walked away, this time completely disappearing into the shadows of the night.

"What was that all about?" Mina asked, and Roy looked down to find her staring at them in confusion. "How does he even know Felicity?"

"You don't know?" Diggle asked quietly, and she shook her head no. All 3 men looked at each other, realizing at the same time that Mina had no idea that the man she had just spoken to had any connection to her and her sister other than his part in whatever organization had taken her in.

"It doesn't matter right now," Roy finally said, tightening his hold on her and bringing her closer to him. "We need to get you back to the foundry and to Felicity." She gave a shaky nod and Roy smiled softly at her. "Let's go," he said, lifting his head up and addressing Oliver and Diggle. He saw the confused looks on their faces and didn't miss the way their eyes followed him as he started walking Mina towards the car that was waiting a few blocks away, his arms still wrapped tightly around her.

As he held her he was reminded of the clarity he always felt in holding someone he cared about so close – the feel of her small body next to his was one he had missed since Thea left. And now he was finding it again, and he was reminded of what he had with Thea; of the good things he had missed so much. She was helping him wake up, pulling him out of a sleep that had taken over him when he lost Thea. And he wasn't sure why he was getting so connected to her – he had met many amazing girls in his life – but he knew that something was pulling him in towards her. Something stronger than he was able to fight and he didn't want to. He was happy just holding her as they drove away.

* * *

"Thank god, are you ok?" Felicity jumped up as they walked in, addressing no one in particular but looking at Mina more than anyone else. Mina gave a small nod and stepped away from Roy who was still holding her slowly, coming to give her sister a hug.

"I'm fine, no need to worry. I think I sorta just went into shock."

"I get that, I would too," Felicity said sympathetically, and Oliver jerked up as he realized where Felicity was about to take the conversation. "What the hell was Jared doing there anyways? God, I haven't seen him in so long – since before you were born, actually-"

"Felicity," Oliver cut her off quickly before she could say anything more to confuse her sister, who apparently knew very little about Jared Noels, "There are some things I need to talk to you about before you start asking those questions." She turned to look at him in confusion.

"Why?" he sighed and gestured for her to step closer to him.

"Come here, I'll explain." She gave her sister a small smile and received a happy if confused smile in return.

"I'll be back in a second."

"Ok." Mina nodded. "I'll uh, I'll be with Roy I guess…" she trailed off, looking at Roy for confirmation, and he smiled and nodded encouragingly. Felicity grinned widely at the both of them and then turned and walked to Oliver, who had sat down in a corner.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly, and he shook his head quickly when he realized he thought something had happened.

"Don't worry nothing much happened, but we did learn something about Mina and Noels. Apparently whatever place had taken her in, he plays a major part in it. She called it his 'life's work'."

"Ok," Felicity nodded slowly, absorbing the information. "So maybe he took her in because she's his daughter?" Oliver raised his hand with a nod.

"That's just the thing; she doesn't know he's her father." He waited a few moments for it to sink in.

"What?" Felicity said, her brows furrowed. "He took her in but never told her why? Why would he do that?" Oliver shrugged.

"I don't know. But he didn't _act_ like her father either. He acted more like her boss, someone with a different kind of authority and control over her; she seemed really scared." Felicity nodded slowly.

"So that's why you didn't want me to ask those questions?" he looked at her and nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah. Sorry about cutting you off like that, I just didn't want you to confuse her more than she already is. She didn't even know you know him; she was really surprised when she found out."

"Can't blame her. I mean he must have played a key part on those eight years she spent there, and I bet she never really understood why… and suddenly he's back in her life out of nowhere and you guys seem to know more about him than she does – wait when did I even come up in this time?" she tilted her head at him. He frowned, his hands clenching into fists as he remembered what Noels had said.

"He mentioned you as he was leaving." He said quietly. Felicity stilled next to him.

"Really?" she finally said, "and what did he say?"

"Nothing important." Oliver answered shortly, his voice coming out strained against the anger stirring in his chest at the man's nerve to even say her name.

"Oliver," Felicity sighed, turning around to face him, "what's wrong now?"

"Nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing." She raised her brows accusingly. "You sound like you wanna rip someone's head off. Or, to be more specific, rip Jared's head off." Oliver sighed loudly, shaking his head at her stubbornness. It would be the death of him eventually. She had the power to unfold everything in him if she just tried hard enough.

"I just-" he paused, still not sure that he wanted to tell her, but continued knowing she would pull it out of him or figure it out anyways. "That guy deserves to rot in jail for the things he did. He's a jerk, and I can't stand that he feels that he can say your name and get away with it after what he did." He felt Felicity relax against him as she understood where he was coming from.

"I agree that he's a jerk, but there's no need to get so angry-"

"No, Felicity, you still don't get it!" he exploded, losing control of the weak grip he had on his anger towards the man. "That man touched you. He touched a child, he hurt a child, and he used that child's innocence to get away with it. And even worse – that child is you. Not just some random person I would help because they need it, but a person that I care about, a person I need in my life, and he hurt you!"

"Oliver!" Felicity jumped up to stand in front of him, her hands coming to rest on his arms soothingly as he fought to stop himself from hitting something. It had been stirring in him for hours, since Felicity had first said that man's name. "God, is that what this has all been about? That's why you wouldn't let me come?" he nodded, still breathing heavily. She gave a small, breathy laugh, shaking her head. "Listen to me," she instructed, grabbing his face and turning it so he was looking her straight in the eye. "I was a little girl. I couldn't understand what was happening, all I knew was that he was closer than usual and I was uncomfortable."

"You said he hurt you." Oliver spoke through gritted teeth, and she shook her head again.

"He did. I was uncomfortable and overwhelmed, and I tried to push him away. He didn't like it, so every time I pushed he held tighter. And I'll admit, it hurt." She shrugged. "But of all the things that I truly remember as difficult and painful from my childhood, that's not one of them. It's easy to forget something when you don't understand the meaning of it," she said gently, resting a hand over his balled fist. At her touch he released some of the tension, but didn't let go completely.

"But I understand," he said quietly. "I understand what it means, and I can't forget. And every time I think of him now, all I want to do is punch him, beat the shit out of him, for what he did." She smiled softly at him, her eyes shining with adoration and something more he couldn't identify.

"And I am so grateful that you care so much. And I find it so amazing that you take things you care about so seriously. But it was a long time ago, and now he's coming back into my life from another front that we need to understand." Her eyes bored into his, her sincerity and pureness shining in them. She tilted her head, smiling at him, and continued, "And to understand we need to put that past in the past and focus on the future, because his man might be a potential threat and enemy; and we can't afford to be blinded by our hate towards him. So I need you to let it go – don't forget it," she added hastily, "but put it aside, and bring it back up when the time is right. Can you do that?" Oliver took his time to answer, choosing instead to study her as she stood there, asking him to push aside the thought of her past for the sake of other people. She was so selfless, and sometimes he wondered if he would ever be able to be like her. She was the kind of person he had dreamed of being when he was on the island; smart, resourceful, honest, and willing to do anything to help others. She helped him by agreeing to stay, and now she needed him to do something for her. It was his turn to return the favor, however hard it may be.

"Yes," he answered. "I can do it." she smiled thankfully at him and gave his hand a squeeze.

"Thank you." He nodded and then looked down at her small hand on his. He tentatively twisted his hand so their palms touched and entwined his fingers with hers. It was a gesture of trust and connection that he hadn't made in a long time with anyone and it seemed he surprised them both as Felicity gasped softly. He held on another few moments, savoring the closeness, before letting go and drawing his hand back. He had done enough. He was going too fast; he had just kissed her for the first time a few hours ago; he couldn't fall apart so quickly. He had to regain some control over his emotions. He cleared his throat. "I'm gonna go for a ride on my bike. I'll see you later."

"Uh – yeah, I mean sure, have fun." Felicity answered, still seeming slightly flustered, rubbing her neck and refusing to meet his eyes. "Um, I needed to talk to Mina anyways." He nodded, and after a few moments of silence Felicity turned and walked away, shaking her head ever so slightly and mumbling something that sounded distinctly like 'so freaking confusing.' Oliver had to agree with her; everything going on between them was confusing. From the moment he met her and was charmed by the rambling to the moment he first kissed her, nothing had gone as planned where she was involved.

He was supposed to get his help from her and leave; instead he found himself returning back to her time after time, until he trusted her enough to show her who he was.

He was supposed to be able to keep her safe and let her do only what was necessary from the liar; instead her stubbornness found her a place in the field too, and her insistence on making her own choices allowed her to risk her life more than he ever wanted.

He was supposed to stay detached, see her as the friend he needed her to be. Instead, he had fallen for her charm.

It was confusing and annoying, that one girl could change everything in him so easily. She changed both sides of him – as the Arrow she helped turn him into a hero, and as Oliver Queen she helped him turn into a better, more trusting man. She was, without a doubt, one of the best things that ever happened to him.

But holding on to her was like holding on to a small bird. It wants your attention, it's happy to come to you, be with you, and it is beautiful. But if you make a wrong move it can fly away immediately; because it's twitchy, and scared, and still unsure of its surroundings. She was scared, he could tell. They were both searching in the dark, blind to the light that was slowly enveloping them. And he really needed to figure it out. He had to figure it out before he would mess it up, because he couldn't afford to screw up with her.

* * *

"I know you have questions," Mina said quietly, and both Roy and John turned to look at her. She wasn't a fool. She could see the question swirling in their heads from the moment they had been left alone. She couldn't blame them; it was confusing as hell, and she wasn't one to be fine without answers either. Roy rubbed the back of his neck, and then shrugged.

"I mean, obviously we do. But only if you want to answer-"

"I don't." Mina said quietly, and his shoulders slumped. "But I think you deserve at least some of the answers if not all of them." he raised his eyes to hers again, hope shining in them.

"You're willing to explain a little?" John asked gently from his perch against the desk, and she nodded at him. She knew it was time to give them some answers – not everything, just enough to satisfy them, because they deserved it. They proved how much they cared for her time after time, and they deserved to be given something back – and there wasn't really much that she could give other than information.

"Ask anything you want to ask me, and anything I want to answer I will. I can't promise it'll be all of it."

"That's ok," Roy said immediately, coming to stand closer to her. "As long as you answer some." Mina nodded and waited for them to start. Roy looked at John, who asked his question first.

"This… organization that took you in. what kind of people was it made out of, and what is the point of it? Not what their goal is here in Starling City, but the point of it as a group formed for something." Mina pursed her lips, thinking, but she saw no reason not to explain the outlines of the project. Sure, she wouldn't go into detail, but she could give him enough to help him understand a little more, which was really what he wanted.

"When I called it organization that one time, I wasn't being exactly precise. It's more of a project – a huge one, that works rather like an organization with people in charge and goals set, but this is different." Both waited for her to continue, and with a sigh she did. "Mr. Noels is one of the heads who originally thought of the idea, and with the help of some friends they made it happen. It's a project named after his son – they call it 'The Dean Project' - who died; apparently after he lost his son he went crazy. He became hell bent on revenge, because he believed his son was murdered. There are some things I don't know there either," she said, frowning. "There's something more – the people he blamed, for example, I don't know. But basically it was his own form of revenge on them – he's sort of crazy. And the project supposedly strives for some twisted form of justice that if the law won't give they'll send their people to take care of." John nodded. You heard a lot of stories like this, Mina knew – people going crazy after the loss of someone important and taking it out in violence and what they believe is revenge and justice.

"But what do you have to do with it? Where does a child fit in?" Roy asked.

"Well, the heads of the project have to have someone to do their dirty work, right?" she said, looking at them to judge their reactions. Both their eyes darkened in anger. "A child is easiest to manipulate into believing that what they're doing is right; a child is still learning right from wrong and has to be taught, and if you teach him in a certain way he will believe it. They take children they find out in the streets and train them, turn them into the killers. We're the ones in charge of doing what's right – we kill, we take the lives, and they can sit behind the scenes and supposedly keep their hands clean. I agree that it's twisted," she shrugged. "But it is what it is."

"Is that why you left? Is that why you came here and betrayed them?" John asked, and Mina lowered her head. That was an answer she still wasn't willing to give.

"Among other things," she said carefully. She looked up at both of them, and she could see the thought swirling in their head as they absorbed the new information. "Any more questions?" she breathed out, praying it was over. She was tired of giving the answers to everyone. Sometimes she just wished someone else would just come up with them instead of her, so that she wouldn't have to exhaust herself in thoughts of how to answer, is she saying too much, and when will it all just be over.

"I have one more," Roy said slowly. Mina nodded with a sigh and waited expectantly. "Why were you so scared when you saw him? He doesn't seem like much, and I've seen you face other, way more intimidating people without looking so scared. What is it about Jared Noels specifically that scared you before?" There it was. The question she knew they would ask eventually. At the end of the day in a fight it all came down to fear; if you were too scared to do what you needed to do, you lost. She had lost that battle against Mr. Noels before, and the other two men knew it as well.

"That man scares me more than anything else I've ever encountered."

"Why?"

"Because he is a man driven by hate. Hate can't beat hate; both sides will lose. The only way to fight hate is with love; the powers that love and hate give are different, but equally strengthening. But if both sides are driven by the same power, neither will win. I don't have love to fight him with. I don't have the tools to beat him." she shrugged. She did not have enough light in her life to fight off his overwhelming anger.

"That's not true," Roy said quietly. "You do have the tools to beat him, I know you do," Mina smiled at him but shook her head. He was so naïve, to believe that she had enough love in her life to beat the hate.

"He's right, Mina." John spoke up. She turned to him and he gave her an encouraging smile. "Love isn't something you just have; you need to find it. You need to find the people who can love you, and give you the strength to love them back. Maybe you haven't found them until now," he said, standing up and coming to rest a large, warm hand on her arm. "But you have us now. And you'd be surprised at the amount of things you will discover about yourself once you have people who love you. When you have those people, you learn to love them back, and that's when you find the love. You'll find it eventually; it's just waiting for you to see it."

Mina smiled. Maybe he was right – maybe she just needed to find the love, and then she would be strong enough. But then again, the last time she had loved someone it had ended in his death. Because of the love they had shared, he had given himself up to her and it had killed him. She couldn't let that happen again. She had to honor his memory enough to protect others like him in her life.

**So what did you think? Were you satisfied with the new things you learned in this chapter? And what do you think of Jared...? Don't forget to let me know!**

**That being said, I want to tell you ahead of time that there will be no new update next week. I'm taking a week off and going on a vacation without my computer or probably enough time and access to another one to update, but I promise to update as soon as possible when I get back! Sorry... I'll do my best to make it up to you ;) **

**Love you all :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**And we're back with chapter 13!**

**I am so sorry this took so long - it took longer than I expected to manage to put what I had planned for this chapter into words. I just couldn't get it to work until suddenly something clicked, and that's how I find myself now at 1 in the morning still writing. Yup, that was probabaly a mistake. But the minute I sat down writing I just couldn't seem to stop.**

**So anyways, here's chapter 13.**

**Enjoy, and let me know what you thought ;)**

"Dammit! Shit, that hurt!" Roy said grumpily, getting up with a small groan and rubbing the spot where Oliver had just caught him with the stick. Oliver shrugged, smiling, and Diggle chuckled from his perch near Mina, who was busy with something on the computer.

"Please go wash your mouth with soap now." Mina's voice rang out, and Roy turned to her with a grin and met her disapproving gaze with a shrug.

"What? Are those words too much for your delicate ears?" Roy asked tauntingly, and she rolled her eyes and stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. Oliver didn't miss Roy's intake of breath as they both took in her change of appearance.

She usually wore loose faded jeans or leggings with tight t-shirts and flip flops or her closed black army boots. Now, however, her leggings were traded for a pair of tight black jeans that complemented her thin athletic legs and her t-shirt was replaced with a tight v-neck that only just brushed the tops of her jeans. The tight fabric stretched against her muscled arms and toned stomach, and the low boots with the small heel made her legs seem even longer than usual.

And as if that wasn't enough, for the first time since they'd met her she was wearing make up. Her blue eyes were lined in black, causing their color to pop even more, and her full lips were colored, bringing attention to them as well. Her wavy brown hair was down and framed her face. They all knew she was beautiful, but now, wearing make up and all dressed up it seemed she was something beyond that.

Needless to say, she was a knockout. And for some reason, it bothered Oliver more than he would have expected that Roy was staring at her like that. He felt a surge of protectiveness, a need to tell him to turn the hell away and respect her enough not to stare at her so openly.

"For your information, I don't like curses because these ears have heard more than enough of them. Though I get the feeling you don't really care. Are you even listening?" she asked, her expression amused, and Oliver reached out and smacked Roy's shoulder with the stick he was holding.

"Ow!" Roy jumped, "what was that for?" he turned to look at Oliver angrily, and he shrugged, grinning. As annoying as it was that he was staring at Mina, it was amusing to see him like that.

"I think he was just trying to stop the drooling," Felicity's amused voice came from somewhere in the shadows where she appeared to be putting her shoes on. Roy scowled.

"I wasn't drooling." He said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yes you were." She answered in a sing song voice.

"No, I was not."

"Yes you were," Oliver said with a grin. Roy turned to him with a growl and raised the stick he was holding.

"Shut up." he growled. Oliver shrugged and raised his own stick.

"Make me." Roy lashed out and Oliver met his attack in the air, the sticks cracking loudly against each other, the sound echoing off the walls. They got into a comfy rhythm of Roy advancing and Oliver halting his attacks.

"There you go, work it out with the sticks." Felicity's voice rang out over the grunts and the cracks of the sticks against each other. Out of the corner of his eye Oliver saw her step towards Mina. He could hear their quiet voices as they both stood close and spoke about something. A few moments went on like that, with Roy and Oliver training and Felicity and Mina talking. Finally they broke apart and they both turned towards the exit, their shoes snapping against the floor.

"Have fun, ladies." Diggle called after them, and both murmured a thank you. Without stopping the training rhythm Oliver addressed the two of them.

"You girls going somewhere?" he asked, voice controlled if tense as he tried his best to even out his breathing and talk at the same time.

"Yup," Felicity answered, "we're going to watch a movie and maybe get dinner afterwards, so don't freak out if we're back a little later than expected. This of course is an utterly ridiculous thing to say, because you tend to freak out even before we get back late, so me saying that will probably make no difference. You'll freak out anyways, won't you? And you are too busy training to answer me. Yup. "

"Girls' night out, huh?" Roy said, his voice and breathing a lot more erratic than Oliver's. They were sweating, standing tense, bearing new bruises but still refusing to back down.

"We deserve some sister bonding time, don't you think?" Mina asked, and Oliver nodded while Roy grunted in response, both still too wired and adrenaline-fired that they couldn't bring themselves to say much more.

"Just be careful, ok?" Oliver managed to bite out while narrowly swinging out of the way of Roy's stick. "And if anything happens, call us immediately."

"Jeez, we will. Can't you just trust us not to get in trouble, just this one time?" Mina asked, and Oliver's breathing and attack faltered as he half turned towards her with an incredulous look. He just had time to meet her grin and get a quick glimpse of Felicity before Roy took advantage of his loss of focus and smacked him across the cheek with the stick. He fell to the ground with his back to the girls and a grunt, his hand coming to rest against his throbbing cheek.

"Oh my god, are you ok?" Felicity asked, and he could hear her footsteps as she walked up to him. With a groan he turned over on to his back, keeping his eyes closed for a few moments as he regained control of his breathing.

"I'm fine," he bit out.

"Are you sure? Hang on; I'll get you some ice. Is it bleeding? Do you need something to clean-"

"Felicity, I'm fine. I don't need ice, I'll be fine. Just go." he said, bringing his hand to cover his eyes and pressing down hard, willing the pain to subside. "You girls can go, have fun, I'll be ok."

"You sure?" she asked again, and he could hear her take a few tentative steps away from them and towards Mina.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said, and with a breath he opened his eyes, letting them refocus for a second before getting up carefully and running a hand over his cheek again. "Enjoy your night out, relax a little, you deserve a break. Just call if you need any-" he stopped short, his heart skipping a beat as he finally got a good look at Felicity.

Like her sister, she had dressed up a little more than usual in honor of the night off. He had seen her dressed up before, but it had always been formal; dresses and heavy jewelry and fancy hairstyles. This time, she was dressed casually, in tight jeans like her sister, and a light jacket he would never have thought she would own. But what really caused him to hold his breath was the low-cut tank top she was wearing underneath the jacket.

In typical Felicity fashion, if her jeans and jacket were subtle colors then she had to wear some sort of color; one that would show, jump out like all her outfits did. She had chosen a tight, blood red tank top, the same color as her lipstick, which stood out against her pale skin in a mesmerizing way. She wore black high heels with blood red touches, she had traded her glasses for contacts so her eyes showed, and her hair was woven into a loose braid down her shoulder. Strands of hair fell out of the braid and framed her face.

She wasn't wearing designer clothes; she wasn't dressed in a tiny little outfit that revealed a lot of skin; she was wearing the most casual outfit possible, but it was just so beautifully simple and so _her, _it took his breath away. She was beautiful, not because she was trying particularly hard, but because that was simply who and what she was – a good, beautiful person.

"Oliver?" her voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he blinked, focusing back on her and everything else, including the nagging pain returning to his cheek. "Oliver, you were saying something?" He opened his mouth for a moment before answering.

"Yeah, sorry. Never mind, just have fun." He said quietly, and she nodded and gave him a strange look before grabbing Mina and walking out, waving behind her shoulder to all of them.

A few beats of silence passed as the three men stared at the door the girls had walked out through. Then Roy turned towards Oliver with a smug grin.

"Who's drooling now?"

* * *

Felicity smiled, looping her arm through Mina's and dragging her towards the clothes shops. Mina resisted, pulling back and shaking her head with a laugh, but Felicity insisted.

"Come on, we have some time before we'll want to eat. Let's just look at the clothes, I promise I won't make you buy anything!"

"Or try anything on?" Mina asked, raising her brows challengingly, and Felicity stopped for just one second, pretending to think about it. Finally she shrugged.

"I'm not promising anything like that." She gave another tug as Mina groaned.

"Fine. Just please don't make me try on anything – I don't know, pink…" Felicity laughed.

"That I can promise." With a grin Mina nodded and let Felicity drag her inside.

The movie they had watched was just a fluffy romantic comedy, but they had both enjoyed it. It was a nice break from all the tension and stress they were experiencing. Felicity was getting to know her sister more every day, and now she felt she could say that she knew her sister like siblings should. She knew what her favorite food, color, and songs were. She knew what kind of movies she liked, what kind of boys she was attracted to, and that she liked reading books - but only the kind that end with a good but sad ending.

When she had asked her about it Mina had shrugged, and answered, 'I don't believe that you can have the good without the bad. The death is what will make the character stronger. The pain is what will push them to overcome it. The loss is what will encourage them to push forward and win. That's the way us humans work; we can't accept the power that good can give us until we've experienced the bad. And once we find that power, we can win, and that's when you get your good ending.'

Felicity hadn't questioned that theory further, because to her, her sister was a living example of it. Slowly her sister had told her more of what she had been through. She showed her the scars she bared on her skin, and the ways she had learnt to deal with the pain. She showed her how she had been through those terrible things and come out stronger, how, in Felicity's opinion, she had found her happy ending when she found her sister and the team – when she found herself a family.

All those thoughts passed through her head as she watched her sister walk around, looking at the clothes and touching the fabric with the tip of her thin fingers. She looked up at her and smiled, and upon instinct Felicity smiled back.

"Maybe I should start wearing more jeans. These ones are nice, don't you think?" Mina asked, snapping Felicity out of her thoughts and back to the pair of white jeans her sister was holding up. She nodded, blinking a couple of times to make sure her eyes refocused, and walked up to one of the shelves in the store.

"If you're already going with jeans, how about some… I don't know – colors, jeans shorts, tank tops, dresses – I mean aren't those what most teenage girls wear, instead of sticking to these depressing, colorless clothes?" Mina scowled.

"Okay, first thing's first I do not wear depressing clothes, just practical ones. Wearing neon colors when I don't want to stand out in a crowd kind of defeats the purpose of trying to blend into the crowd." Felicity rolled her eyes. Mina crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. "Second, I don't wear shorts. Or tank tops. Or mini dresses and skirts, for that matter." Felicity gave her an incredulous look.

"Really? Why? That's what most girls your age wear-"

"I'm not like most girls my age," Mina sing – songed back, walking away and rounding a corner so a shelf stood between them. Felicity crossed her arms over her chest and continued talking, walking towards her.

"I know, but most girls your age would also kill to look as hot as you would in shorts and short dresses. You should totally try them on, I mean why not?" she walked around the corner and just had time to see Mina's hand fly before a black jacket landed on her face. "Mina!" she growled, pulling it off with a scowl. She looked up towards the sound of her laughter and saw her round another corner in the large store.

"I refuse to wear shorts and tank tops, or anything too open and revealing. I have too many scars that would show for it to look good." Mina called to her, no sense of pain or disgust in her voice but honest belief that what she said was true. With a frustrated sigh Felicity followed the sound of her voice once again.

"I don't believe that. You should try things on and see how they look." she called out, and rounded the corner just to see the tips of her sisters brown hair at the end of the aisle. She heard her giggle and rolled her eyes.

"Nope, that's not gonna happen," Mina answered, her voice getting more distant by the second. Felicity sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and standing in place.

"Fine. Now come on, stop running away. It's not like I'm gonna make you try anything on, right?" no response. "Mina?" she called out, uncrossing her arms and walking slowly towards the direction Mina had gone. "Mina, are you there?" she rounded the corner. No one there. "Mina!" she called out, looking around frantically. "Where the hell are you?"

"Over here!" Felicity spun around the find Mina running towards her, a worried look in her eyes.

"You scared me!" she breathed, and Mina shook her head frantically, reaching her and grabbing her hand. Felicity jumped as she started tugging her towards the door. "Mina, what are you doing?"

"Run," was her answer. "Run, they're here."

"Who's here?" Felicity asked shakily, letting Mina drag her out and into the street. Mina didn't answer and kept running, looking around carefully as if searching for something. "Mina, who's here?" Felicity asked again breathlessly.

"They call them avengers," Mina answered, her voice even as she continued running without looking back, "but basically – they're the killers for the project. They're deadly, and merciless, and hard to beat. I used to be one of them."

"What? Is that what you meant when you said they tried to turn you into a killer?"

"Yes!" Mina answered impatiently, turning into a main street and seemingly into some sort of fair, and pulling Felicity into the large crowd. "Now stay down, and call Oliver. Carefully!" she added, as Felicity reached frantically for her phone. "Speak quietly, and don't draw any attention to yourself. Blend in," she said quietly, a warning glint in her eyes, "or they'll find us. And if they find us, we're dead."

* * *

The minute Oliver saw her name on the screen of his phone he knew something was wrong.

"Felicity, is everything ok?"

"Oliver," she whispered, "Oliver I need you to come here. I need you to come here; we're on the corner right next to the company building. There's some sort of street fair going on, everything is full of people."

"Felicity, why are you whispering?" he asked, his hands clenching as he grabbed his helmet and reached for his jacket.

"I can't speak too loudly. Listen, just come, please, as fast as you can." She sounded terrified, her breathing uneven and shallow and her voice frantic.

"Ok, ok. I'm coming. I'm on my way. Diggle! Roy!" he turned to the two on the training mats. "I'm going out."

"No!" Felicity said, and then whispered seemingly to someone else, "Oh god, yeah I know, I'm sorry. I'll stay quiet. Oliver," she addressed him again, "bring Roy and Dig with you, we need all the help we can get. And come quickly. Please come quickly."

"Felicity, calm down. We're on our way."

* * *

"Pull your hood up," Mina instructed over the sound of the fair, and Felicity shakily pulled the hood of her light jacket up. She was shaking, her breathing still uneven, and Mina had the feeling her body might have been going into shock. She couldn't blame her. "Good," she said soothingly, reaching a hand to grasp her shoulder gently. "That's good."

"Why are they here and how does pulling up my hood help at all?" Felicity asked quietly, so quietly Mina barely heard her, wrapping her arms around her body and keeping her head down just like Mina had told her. Mina, meanwhile, was busy looking up and down the streets. The avengers could be anywhere, on rooftops, in trees, disguised on benches; but she knew exactly how they worked, how they thought and planned. And she knew for a fact that they were searching for a face that had only been described to them.

"The killers probably heard a description of you and that's what their whole search is based on," she explained as quietly as the noise allowed while digging her fingers slightly into Felicity's shoulder, willing her to walk faster. "The project doesn't have a lot of pictures of you because there aren't many online."

"I know, I make sure to remove most pictures from the web." Felicity explained quickly, quickening her pace and holding her head up a little higher. Mina gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze.

"Exactly. The few pictures they do have are all related to the company, and that means that you're in work attire in them. Bend down," she instructed, and Felicity did as she said, sending her a questioning look. Mina raised her hand to stop the questioning and stared at the shape hiding in the shadows. This one was young and small, probably one who was new to the field. She could see his eyes searching through the crowd that currently hid Felicity at its feet, most likely for the blond hair, and she waited for his gaze to pass over them before letting Felicity get up.

"What was that-?"

"Just keep walking." Mina instructed, grabbing on to her hand and pulling her deeper into the throng of people. "As I was saying, if you're in work attire that means dresses and skirts and glasses and ponytails, right?" Felicity nodded.

"Yeah, so?"

"So they are currently looking for a young girl dressed in a work dress with glasses and a shiny blond ponytail. Good thing you decided to change your look for the night." Mina paused and looked around, spotting another standing in the middle of the crowd. This one was older, probably even older than her, and she had a cold, calculated look in her eyes as she searched through the crowd. The red wristband stood out against her pale skin, a seemingly harmless detail to any other person, but to Mina – a warning.

"Turn that way, that way," she said quickly, turning Felicity so their backs were to the girl. "Come on," she said to no one, weaving among the people and looking back. The girl was still standing right where she had been before, still searching through the crowd. "Walk down there," she pointed to the stairs that led down to another street.

"Down here?" Felicity said, looking at her with uncertainty, and Mina nodded impatiently.

"Yes, down there!" she tugged her towards the stairs, and together they half ran down. "Good. Call Oliver," she said as they walked further from the crowded street and the noise. Mina looked around, spotting a dark corner where a few men were sitting and talking loudly. "Tell him to meet us down here as soon as possible."

"Ok," Felicity breathed, reaching into her pocket and grabbing her phone. As she dialed Mina scanned the area again. Everything seemed clear, but something felt wrong. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something – or someone – she was missing. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and searching again, but still nothing looked unusual. Everything seemed fine. The men were still sitting and talking loudly. An old woman still sat with a tin can and asked for money on the side of the street. A teenager was riding around on his skateboard on the flat surface of the side walk, back and forth and back and forth, trying not to fall. Nothing seemed out of place.

"They'll be here in less than a minute, they were just passing nearby." Felicity said, getting off the phone and giving a relieved sigh, but Mina just barely heard her. Something still felt off.

"Good," she answered distractedly, looking up and down the street again. One of the men had gotten up and was dancing, his movements made slow and sluggish probably by alcohol. The old woman had picked up her tin can and was shaking it at the people passing by, her thin bony wrists shaking as if from the effort of holding it up. The boy on the skateboard had stopped close to them and was standing in the light of a streetlamp looking around. Mina tilted her head, staring at him intently.

"Mina, is everything ok?" Felicity asked, but Mina didn't answer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the headlights of Oliver's car turn into the streets, but everything seemed to slow down as the boy started walking towards them. The red band on his wrist flashed in the light of the streetlamp, a warning.

"Felicity, head for the car." Mina said calmly, "head for the car!" she grabbed her arm and hauled her towards the car. John stopped it near the sidewalk and Mina pushed Felicity towards it, willing her to move faster and the boy to slow down. The car door flew open. "Come on, Felicity, get in, get in!" Mina said. "Hurry!" the boy was getting closer, standing just a few feet away now and still walking towards them without slowing down.

"Get in!" Oliver called form inside the car, and at the sound of his voice Felicity jumped up and ran the last few feet towards them, flying into the car. The boy was getting closer. Mina followed quickly, diving in and closing the door behind her just as the boy reached the car.

"Drive, John, drive!" Mina called frantically, and he pressed on the gas. Mina stared at the boy outside the window as they moved away from him, willing her heart to calm down and settle. Felicity was safe. They got her out in time. No one was touching her now.

But that second or so where she got a glimpse of the boy was enough for her heart to start beating wildly all over again.

"Oh my god," she whispered, leaning back against the seat and closing her eyes. She must have imagined it. But it had looked _so real_. Just like him. She shook her head, opening her eyes slowly. Everything was fuzzy, but of one thing she was sure. Somehow, despite his disappearance two months ago, Sean was still alive. Because she had watched him for hours at a time, watched those kind eyes and that mouth, and Sean's face wasn't one you could forget.

And just now, for the first time in over two months since he had first helped her find Felicity, she had just seen Sean's face again.

* * *

Oliver held Felicity close, her body shaking against his as they pulled in next to the foundry.

"Felicity, you can calm down, everything's ok," he said quietly, and she nodded shakily, snuggling closer to him. Diggle parked the car and they all started moving out, Mina jumping up and rushing out as soon as she could. "Come on, let's go." Oliver gave her shoulder a squeeze and she got up slowly, getting out before him and leaning heavily on the car. "Felicity, are you ok?" he asked worriedly, and she shook her head.

"I can't take this anymore." She said quietly. "I can't take this – this not knowing. I was scared out of my mind just now!" she said, looking up at him. "I was terrified, and I didn't even know why. All I knew was that some killers were standing in the crowd and wanted to kill me. Why would they want to kill me, Oliver? What do I have to do with all this anyways?"

"I don't know, Felicity," he said soothingly, and she shook her head and closed her eyes.

"That's my problem. None of us know, and it's driving me crazy. I need answers!" she said forcefully, and Oliver took a step closer to her.

"I know you do, but I can't give them to you." He said quietly, and she opened her eyes and looked into his. She looked terrified, and shaken, but more than that she looked angry. She wanted the answers.

"I know that – but who can?"

"I can." They both turned around to find Mina standing there, Roy at her side. "I can explain everything that just happened."

"Then please, do." Oliver said slowly, gesturing for her to speak. She sighed.

"The project is basically a means of revenge for the heads. The heads are the people who provide the weapons, bring in the children, and come up with victims. They are people driven by hate, and loneliness, and they'll do anything to explain their pain." Felicity nodded for her to continue, and Mina looked down at the ground. "The newest target for some time now has been someone in Starling city – in fact, according to records, there's been an attack destined for one person specifically in the city for years, but it was never executed. And then Slade came." Oliver swore, looking at Felicity. She had the same look as his, a knowing one.

"Many innocent people died that night. A whole city was practically destroyed that night. And with it, the lives of many people. Among those people were many that were close to some of the leaders. They lost a lot that night, too much for them to bear. And so Starling became a new target for them.

"You need to understand – when a crazy man is grieving, he'll believe anything that will help him stop the pain. So when one of them realized that Slade had something to do with you – The Arrow, not Oliver Queen – he decided to blame you for his loss. He convinced them that since you came to the city all that happened was that people died. And they believed him."

"Hey, it's ok. You know it's not true." Felicity said quietly, laying a hand on his clenched fist. Taking a few deep breaths Oliver nodded, unclenching his fist and focusing back on Mina.

"So that's why they're here in Starling city. And while they're here, that one person with an attack filed to their name is being targeted as well. That's the main reason I came here."

"Who is this person?" Felicity asked, "And what do they have to do with what happened tonight?" Mina hesitated a moment before looking up and meeting her sisters eye.

"It's you, Felicity. They've been targeting you."

**I hope you liked this one...**

**Don't forget to let me know what you thought!**

**Love you all :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14! **

**Firts thing's first - thank you to everyone who reviewed, you guys are amazing :)**

**Second - I wanted to adress one guest reviewer who totally made my day with the things she said - so thank you thank you thank you Jess! The things you said were super sweet and I appreciate them so so much, and if I could I would totelly write you a gushy reply on how much what you said means but this will have to do, so a big big thank you from me.**

**Third (sorry but this is the last I promise) - this chapter is osrt of a transiton chapter so not much action takes place and for that I apoligize ahead of time. I felt that a break from all the action was necessary to focus on the emotional side of everything. Hope that's fine with you.**

**And now on with the chapter...**

**Enjoy, and let me know what you think! **

_"So that's why they're here in Starling city. And while they're here, that one person with an attack filed to their name is being targeted as well. That's the main reason I came here."_

_"Who is this person?" Felicity asked, "And what do they have to do with what happened tonight?" Mina hesitated a moment before looking up and meeting her sisters eye. _

_"It's you, Felicity. They've been targeting you."_

There were a few seconds of silence before everyone exploded.

"What? Are you telling me that Felicity's been in danger this whole time and you didn't feel the need to tell me?!"

"How could you keep something that big away from us?"

"Mina, you should have told us!"

All three men reacted at the same time, Oliver's shouts mixing with Diggle's steady voice and Roy's soft chastening reaction. Felicity stood completely still, her mouth open and her eyes wide. Mina took a step back as Oliver took a step closer to her, the look on his face dark and the glint in his eyes out of control.

"Guys, please," she said quietly, raising her hands in a gesture of peace, "I had my reasons."

"It'll be hard to find a reason good enough. This isn't something you can just keep quiet, your sisters' life is on the line here," Diggle said quietly, and Mina turned to look at him, her eyes shining with hurt.

"Don't you think I know that?" she spat out, "don't you think that from the first day I've been here I never let her go anywhere alone?" she laughed humorlessly and shook her head. "I made sure to be with her if none of you was going with her, I even followed you guys sometimes to make sure she was ok, I saved her and Laurel when those guys the project had sent to kidnap her had come for them-"

"Those guys had been sent by the project?" Roy asked, and it seemed that everyone took a few moments to go back and remember that night. Mina nodded.

"I have been protecting her far longer than you can imagine. For months, all I've thought about was saving her, keeping her safe."

"But you didn't think it would be a good idea to tell me?" Felicity finally spoke up, and Mina whirled to look at her. The look in Felicity's eyes was frighteningly blank. "You didn't think I deserved to know? That maybe you should tell me so I won't feel like I'm losing my mind because of all my questions? You left me in the dark, Mina, when if I had known we could have all done things differently. That's not protecting me." Felicity shook her head, her face betraying the hurt she was feeling. Oliver was still breathing hard, his eyes on fire at he stared at Mina. Mina, on her end, shook her head and looked around at everyone. It was like they were attacking her, she was surrounded on every front.

"How can you say that?" Mina whispered, her voice cracking with betrayal and hurt. "Do you have any idea what I gave up for you? Any idea what I've had to give to keep you safe?"

"Whatever it was it's not enough," Oliver growled, hands clenching, and he stepped closer to her, invading her personal space and glaring at her. He had never looked at her like that before; like she was the enemy. None of them were used to see him so hostile towards her; he was so fond of her, he usually showed how much he cared for her. "Nothing you say or do now can justify what you kept from us. If Felicity had somehow fallen into their hands, do you have any idea what we would all be losing?"

"Do you have any idea what I've already lost to make sure that doesn't happen?"

"I don't care!" Oliver roared, and Roy, Felicity and Diggle all visibly flinched as Mina took a startled step back, her hand coming to cover her mouth. "I. Don't. Care." The pain in her eyes seemed to burn through everything she looked at as her gaze passed on all of them.

"Sometimes I wish I hadn't come here," she finally whispered. "Sometimes I wish I hadn't gotten myself into this mess."

Felicity lowered her gaze and refused to meet her eyes, and Oliver took a step back at the broken tone. "But every time I start to think that this is too much, I look at you guys and realize how much I gained, despite all the loss and hardship." Roy and Diggle looked at her, their eyes softening, and suddenly the anger seemed to shift into something else that radiated off of all of them.

"When I realize how good and understanding you guys can be, how important you are to me like I am to you, I manage to accept that something good can come out of this after all. Where are the people who make me feel like that?" they all refused to meet her shining eyes.

"Mina-" Roy started, but she raised a hand and took another step away from them, towards the entrance to the foundry.

"To be able to come here, to leave everything behind, I had to give everything I had before up. There's one set of scars I never show anyone, but I think it's time you see it." she whispered, and reached for the thick silver bracelet she wore. None of them had ever given it much thought, but if they had they would have noticed that it never moved off of her wrist.

"God, Mina!" Felicity breathed, and Roy closed his eyes painfully. Both Oliver and Diggle drew a few steadying breaths.

In small letters, two names were engraved into the skin of the outside of her wrist; but these weren't like her tattoo, no. These were actual scars from the actual slicing of the skin. They read 'Sean' and 'Maia'.

"Who are they?" Roy asked quietly. Mina traced the names with a shaking finger.

"These are the only two friends I had there. Sean is the guy who found me and saved me, made my gear for me; the one who disappeared, mysteriously, over two months ago, because he helped me gather information on _you, _so I could find and _protect _you." She stared at Felicity accusingly, and a layer of unshed tears rose in Felicity's eyes when she realized who her sister was talking about. "He gave up everything for us, so that I could come to you; I lost him so that I could come to you.

"But Maia is even worse." She took a deep, shuddering breath. The silence was almost overwhelming. "She was 11, and I was her mentor. That was how the system works; kids are trained by mentors, who teach them everything, and obviously they become close. She helped me break out of the institute where the project is." They all stared at the small name on her wrist, and a tear fell and shattered against it as they watched. "She died that night, fighting the guards off while I crawled my way under the fence to get to you. I lost my little sister, so I could come save my older one."

"God, Mina please, we get it." Felicity whispered, and Mina turned to look at her, her eyes sparkling with tears of anger and hurt.

"No you don't! You don't understand how much I gave up so I could save you! I cut their names into my skin so that I would never forget what they did for me, what they did for us – and just like that, all of you think you can just go off and dismiss everything they did, dishonor their memory and the purpose that they _died _for! They died for you, Felicity!" she yelled, her voice breaking again. Then she turned to Oliver. "I lost them for her. So if you think that's not enough to justify what I did fine. I'll leave. But if you can just open your eyes and look at me for once – _really look _at me – maybe you'll realized how broken I am. Maybe then you'll realize how much I lost, and how much it still affects me every day." Oliver pursed his lips, refusing to meet her gaze.

"Mina, I never meant-"

"I know you didn't mean to do anything. But I also know that you don't know enough about my past to judge my decisions in the present. And you should know enough about loving someone so much, you'd do everything – even lie – to protect them." she looked at every single one of them in turn, her anger and hurt burning into all of them like a brand. "Maybe next time you question my actions stop to think about where I stand against you; I'm the girl who came into your life with every purpose of giving up her own to save it. I'm the girl who came out of nowhere, bearing scars and pain and secrets, to be here with you and help you. I have given everything," she said quietly. "I've given _everything._ And if that's not enough, then I really don't know what is. Cause that's all a girl like me has to give." She whirled around and ran inside, and they all drew shaky uneven breaths almost at the same time.

They all looked at each other, a mixture of emotion behind every eye; but one thing stood out in all pairs of eyes. Guilt, in its most pure form, shining so bright it seemed to truly exist in the air that they breathed as they took calming breaths, in the darkness they saw when they opened their eyes, and in the trail of fire that Mina seemed to have left behind her as she had walked away.

* * *

"I am such an asshole," Oliver said for the millionth time, scrubbing his hands over his face as shaking his head in self disgust. The air hung heavy between him, Felicity, Roy and Diggle, the room seeming to be filled with their guilt and their sorrow. "I can't believe I said those things to her. How could I say those things to her? How could you let me?" Felicity looked at him from her perch on her chair in the corner of the room.

"Oliver, none of us were thinking clearly, and we all ended up taking it out on her. I know you would never say things like that to her if you would stop and think before you acted."

"I know, but-"

"She's right, Oliver," Diggle spoke up, looking at him, "We were all confused and scared, and we weren't ourselves. We all said things we shouldn't have." Diggle knew he should never have spoken up. He had made her seem uncaring, as if she needed to be reminded that her sister's life was on the line.

"Not all of us," Oliver said quietly, and Felicity looked at him questioningly. "Roy didn't." 3 pairs of eyes turned to Roy, who was leaning on a desk with his arms crossed. He looked up at the sound of his name, and startled at the sight of all of them looking directly at him.

"What?" he said quietly, "did you expect me to lash out at her? Be mad at her? I can't do that." He said, his voice gentle. "I can't do that because I care about her."

"I do too. God, did it really look like I didn't care about my own sister?" Felicity said, her hand coming to cover her mouth, "because I do. I really care about her, and I was just confused, and-"

"We know, Felicity. We all care about her. And we all lashed out at her other than you," Diggle said, looking at Roy pointedly. Roy sighed.

"That's because you don't care about her like I do," he explained. "You care about her like a sister; all of you. I don't look at her and see a sister, I see more. You worry about her, you watch out for her, because to you she's like family. And families fight – and when families keep secrets, they tend to fall apart." The thought of the Queen family came unbidden to all of them and Oliver lowered his head. The air shifted once again at the memories of Moira Queen dying, of the fights they had, of the note Thea had left Roy before she disappeared completely out of their lives. Felicity finally got up and walked to Oliver, laying a soothing hand on his arm and sitting down next to him on the floor. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he turned around and kissed the crown of her head softly, a gesture he had never made with her before. She smiled at him encouragingly.

"You're right," she said, addressing Roy but still looking at Oliver. "Secrets do cause families to fall apart. But we're not like a normal family; our lives are literally dependant on each other. And we need to remember that, even while we fight." She reached out and grabbed Oliver's hand, and then turned to look at the other 2 men in the room, who were looking fondly at the couple on the floor. "So this is just a bump in the road we need to overcome, and we can't feel guilty about it; we can make it better."

"How do you think we should?" Diggle asked, and she looked at him and shrugged, showing that she herself wasn't sure. They had never seen Mina like that, none of them; and they didn't know how to make her better. As much as they already knew about each other, they still had a lot to learn.

"I'll go talk to her," Roy said, standing up and looking at each one in turn. "I think she would be least upset if I approached her right now." Felicity nodded.

"Go ahead," Oliver said, looking up and nodding at him. "We have things to discuss anyways," he said, looking at Felicity.

"Really? Like what?" she asked, tilting her head at him, although they all obviously knew what he was about to say.

"Like you needing to be watched at all times. I am not about to let anything happen to you just because you decide you need some time alone." Diggle and Roy both shook their heads, laughing, at the expression on Felicity's face, although Oliver remained completely serious.

"Fine." Felicity finally relented after a few second stare-down between the two of them. "Who needs to be alone anyways, with a family as amazing as you guys?"

* * *

Roy found Mina sitting on the roof again, just like he had the first time he had dared to really approach and ask her what he wanted. Like she had then, she seemed distant, staring absentmindedly at the dark sky, the stars reflecting in her big, unblinking eyes. She looked sad; heaviness seemed to weigh down on her as she looked out into the darkness, and she seemed like she was detached; she looked out of this world, so painfully beautiful, like she didn't belong there, on the roof of that building. She belonged where her eyes would shine blue like the open sunny sky, not where her eyes were such a melancholy dark blue that reflected off the night sky.

Roy took a tentative step towards her. His movements were controlled and quiet, as he had learned to become, but he had also learned to never doubt Mina. She could get lost in thought; but never so deep that she wouldn't be aware of her surroundings and be wired and ready like a machine. He took another step closer to her. She didn't even glance his way. Her eyes remained firmly trained on a star out in the open stretch of blackness.

"Is everything ok?" at the sound of his voice Mina jumped up and whirled to face him, her hands already up in a defensive stance. Her eyes were nearly black. Roy quickly raised his hands and took a step back, whispering, "Whoa, hey, it's just me." Mina raised her eyes to his and he met her stare with a soft one, tilting his head and raising his brows. She let out a long breath and lowered her gaze and arms, leaning her head back for a second and closing her eyes. When she opened them they were back to blue.

"You scared me," she breathed out, bringing a hand to rub at her eyes and running it through her hair absentmindedly. Roy took a tentative step closer, bringing his hand up to cup her cheek and look at her closely.

"I'm sorry. I'm not used to you not knowing that I'm right behind you," he answered, brushing a strand of hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear, looking at her worriedly. "Seriously, though, are you ok? That never happens." She shook her head and sighed loudly, turning away from him.

"I know. I don't know what happened." She said quietly, turning so her back was fully to him, causing his hand to fall away from her cheek. She cocooned her body around itself, curling in and letting her head fall forward and hang limply. Roy heard her take a few deep breaths that became more shallow by the minute, like she was fighting to keep them steady, and he watched as her back and shoulders started shaking, her muscles tensing as if she were making an effort to not cry. "You should go," she said quietly, her voice thick; "you don't want to see me like this."

"Like what? Crying?" he asked gently, longing to reach out and touch her but afraid she wouldn't want him to. "I don't mind seeing you cry. Everybody cries, Mina, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Well I don't!" she answered forcefully, stumbling another few steps away from him and sitting down frighteningly close to the edge of the roof. "I haven't really cried in practically 8 years, until I came here. But now, it's like everything is falling apart, and I can't handle it." she lifted her head and turned to look at him, arms still wrapped tightly around her body, and Roy took that as a sign that he could step closer to her. He sat down next to her. "In those years my greatest source of strength was my ability to stay detached; to learn to stop caring about anything and everything, because that is what hurt me the most. Even when I was hurt, even when I was punished, even when they engraved that horrifying tattoo into my flesh, I didn't cry." She shook her head, eyes shining with unshed tears, and turned to look at the sky again. "But now, since I first started looking into this team, my dependence on not caring is what's ruining me, because since I met you guys, I lost the ability to not care. I care so much about everything now, and it's over whelming me. It's making me weak." She whispered, shaking her head again. "And I don't want you to see me weak." Roy stared at her for a few moments before shaking his head.

"Mina," he said quietly. "You are not weak. You're one of the strongest people I know." Ignoring all doubts he had he reached out and laid an arm across her shoulders, pulling her towards him. At first she resisted, but he was persistent. Gradually she leaned towards him, resting her head on his shoulder and turning her body towards his chest.

"I used to be; but now I lost my greatest weapon, and I feel like I'm nothing without it; I can't fight, I can't help, I can't protect the people I care about-"

"Mina," he said gently again, "you're not weak. Caring doesn't make you weak; it can actually make you stronger." She shook her head, and he felt the movement against his shoulder.

"Not in the world I come from."

"You're not in that world anymore; you're in our world now. And in our world, we all care about each other, and we all protect each other. We fight for each other, and that gives us the strength to push on and win. And sometimes we fight with each other too." He tilted his head down to look at her and found her staring intently at his face, her expression unreadable but her eyes clear. He looked back at her, smiling. "We all keep secrets from one another once in a while; we all do things that risk our lives and sometimes other people's, and we all find ourselves in situation where everything feels overwhelming. But what you're calling weakness is also what's gonna give you the strength to keep fighting. I know it's what gave it to me." he swallowed heavily, allowing himself one of those rare moments where he truly thought of Thea and of the times he had with her, the way she made him stronger and encouraged him to be the better person he had the ability to become.

"Then you're saying that we can get over this? That I can go down there and expect them to forgive me, after everything I did? Did you see their faces, Roy? It was like they didn't recognize me. And seeing them like that hurt more than it should have."

"I know. But you can definitely go down there and work it out. It won't be easy, but none of this ever is. You just have to trust yourself and the people you care about to forgive you– and already now they're beating themselves up over what they said." He smiled, giving her shoulders a squeeze, and her eyes turned thoughtful and a spark of fondness shone in them.

"So theoretically speaking I can go down there and won't be at risk of another attack?"

"Practically speaking you can go down there and won't be at risk at anything other than a lot of hugs and babbles from your sister." They both smiled at each other for a few seconds before turning away and looking at the sky again.

"I don't know all that much anyways, you know," she whispered after a few seconds of silence.

"Hmm?" Roy said, absentmindedly stroking her hair with his hand.

"There really isn't much I could have said to change the way everything was working. I don't know why she's a target, I don't know if she's what they call a top priority – I don't know anything other than it having to do with one of the leaders' sons. The most I could do was make sure she is never alone, but she almost never is because she has you guys."

"I know. I think they really just got mad because they felt that you hiding a secret that had anything direct to do with one of us freaked them out. They sort of realized how much of a threat this project really is when it became something that affected someone as important as Felicity." At the name Mina sighed, her body tensing a little. Roy looked down at her again. "Do you want to go down now? Talk to her?" she hesitated before shaking her head.

"Not yet," she said, scooting closer to him so her head lay on his chest and both arms wrapped around his torso. Instinctively he brought his arms to circle her shoulders and pull her small body even closer, before his mind was even able to process how close they really were, and not just physically – she opened up to him more than he would ever have expected. She looked up at him and smiled before resting her head right over his heart. "I'm happy staying here for a while."

* * *

Felicity sat with Oliver for a while, just leaning her head on his shoulder. Neither of them said a word, but for some reason it felt like they didn't need to. His worry for her radiated off of him, in his restless hands and his breathing.

At some point Dig had gotten up and left, saying he needed to get back to Lyla, and that he would work everything out in the morning. He needed some time to think anyways. Before he left he reminded her to stay safe, and she had smiled at him. It was the only point in all that time that she had gotten up – to say goodbye to him with an encouraging hug. And if he held on a little longer than usual she didn't say a word. Then she had stepped out of the hug with an encouraging smile and sat back down next to Oliver on the floor. They hadn't moved since then.

"Oliver," she finally said quietly, "what are you doing?" he turned to look at her, a questioning look in his eyes. His hands stilled for a second.

"I'm not doing anything." He said, and with that his hands went back to moving, his breaths came back to puffing out steadily.

"Yes you are," she answered quietly, biting her lip. He looked at her again, and with a pointed look she turned her gaze down to the hand he had wrapped around her waist. The hand that had somehow found its way around her waist to her back, and had slipped under the waist of her jeans to rub slow circles across her lower back, coming dangerously close to the hem of her underwear. With a start Oliver pulled his hand back and Felicity sighed, pulling herself off of him and stretching.

"Sorry," he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, but she just shook her head.

"Don't be. You're allowed to touch me, Oliver, just… warn a girl before you slip your hand down her pants." His eyes snapped to hers as hers fell shut. She felt her cheeks color with embarrassment. "God, I'm sorry, that came out wrong. Everything has to come out wrong from my mouth." She covered her face with her hand, willing the burning in her cheeks to subside. Oliver laughed awkwardly, shifting uncomfortably next to her. A few seconds of awkward silence passed between them before he broke it.

"This shouldn't be so weird." Felicity lowered her hand to look at him. She found him staring at her intently, honestly. "When I told you that you aren't a mistake, that you're more than that, I meant it," he said earnestly. "I can touch you. I should be able to touch you when I want now; we shouldn't be so afraid of doing this; of actually being together."

"Is that what you want?" Felicity asked breathlessly, and he grinned, shrugging.

"I wouldn't be bringing it up if I didn't." Felicity's breath caught in her throat before she smiled at him happily.

"Then you're right. This shouldn't be so weird. We should, for example, be able to do this," she whispered, getting up on her knees and draping herself over his chest so their faces were aligned. She ran her lips over his experimentally, and he gasped softly.

"Felicity, are you sure right now's the right time-?" he asked softly, and she froze, her lips still inches from his.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"We just discovered that you're being targeted by a group of crazy killers, and that led us to a fight that ended up with your sister leaving. Maybe right now we should try to stay serious, at least until we work things out with her, don't you think?" she sighed, pursing her lips. He had a point; but she also felt a sudden need to be closer to him. They hadn't really done anything since their kiss; they hadn't kissed again, hadn't held each other; until tonight. And now seemed like a good time to forget herself for a while in something she had wanted to do for ages.

"All that didn't stop you from wanting to touch me before," she said quietly, grinning at his intake of breath. "Besides, I'm not doing anything inappropriate. Am I not allowed to kiss you?" she asked innocently, giggling when his hands dug into her waist. He grinned devilishly.

"I guess you are." He reached out and grabbed her face, brining her lips to his and molding their mouths together. She let out a gasp of surprise before responding eagerly, tangling her hands in his short hair and pulling him closer, letting her tongue dart out and running it across his lower lip. He growled and shifted so she was leaning against the wall, taking control of the kiss and deepening it. His hands trailed up and down her waist, his fingers leaving a trail of fire in their wake. She laughed when he started trailing a path of kisses down her neck, giggling when he hit ticklish spots and gasping when he hit more sensitive ones. At a particularly loud laugh he pulled back, breathing heavily, and grinned at her. "You're ticklish?"

"Yeah," she replied slightly breathlessly, biting her lip with a grin. "Very ticklish, even."

"Really?" he grinned, his eyes sparkling, and she tilted his head in warning.

"No, Oliver, don't you _dare_- oh god!" she doubled over as his hands attacked her, laughing uncontrollably. "stop it, stop it!" she wheezed, and he stopped obediently, looking down at her curled form as she tried to regain control of her breathing. "What was that for?" she asked breathlessly, surprised that he would do something so carefree and even out of character. He shrugged.

"Just wanted to see if it's true, and now I know it is," he replied, leaning down and capturing her lips for a chaste kiss. "It's so like you to be ticklish – it literally suits your character," he said jokingly, grinning against the skin of her neck. He felt her breath puff out against the back of his neck when she laughed, and he smiled too. They stayed like that, Oliver slowly trailing kisses up and down her neck and her every so often giggling at certain spots.

"This is nice," she blurted out suddenly. "It's nice feeling normal for a change, you know? Doing normal stupid stuff like most normal stupid couples do." He nodded. "We should probably get off the floor, right?" she said after a few more seconds, "because I mean if we keep this up I'm gonna end up hurting my back pretty bad, don't you think?" Oliver's laughter was cut off as another voice drifted through the empty room.

"Ollie, Where are you?" Laurel's voice rang out in the foundry for the first time in a few weeks, and they both sprang up. "Guess who decided to pay a visit." Oliver and Felicity just had time to settle comfortably and at a reasonable distance against the wall before Laurel appeared, and next to her stood a figure in a skintight black outfit and a blond wig. Both Felicity and Oliver scrambled to their feet, walking towards the two women and greeting them both, hugging the one they hadn't seen in several months.

"What are you doing here?" Felicity asked with a smile, and Sara shrugged.

"I decided I should drop by, I've missed you guys. Besides, I understand a lot's happened since I left," Sara said, grinning, and Oliver and Felicity looked at each other knowingly. She had no idea.

* * *

Roy and Mina climbed down the roof carefully before looking at each other again. Roy gave her an encouraging smile and she nodded, smiling back gratefully, before grabbing onto his hand and walking towards the main training room. As they neared it they could hear voices, and the closer they got the more voices Roy recognized. At the sound of one specific one, however, Roy stopped just outside the door.

"What is it?" Mina asked, turning to him questioningly. He shook his head, already grinning. This would be interesting to see.

"Nothing. Come on." He squeezed her hand and pulled her into the room. He was met with a smile he had come to know well as Sara immediately walked to him and gave him a hug, her eyes shining at him. Next to him he felt Mina stiffen, and he turned to look at her with a grin.

"Mina, this is Sara Lance, Laurel's younger sister." He said and a flash of recognition shone in her eyes as she nodded and smiled politely, her shoulders visibly loosening. Sara, on her part, looked Mina carefully over before nudging Roy.

"Nice one," she whispered in his ear, winking at him and then pointedly looking at his and Mina's joined hands. With an embarrassed laugh Roy nodded, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, um, thanks. Anyways, Sara, this is Mina, Felicity's younger sister."

"I've heard," she answered with a grin. She reached out and shook Mina's hand with a wide smile. "We probably have a lot to talk about." Mina raised her brows, shaking back but obviously not entirely sure what she meant.

"Um, yeah, probably. Hopefully." She said with a shrug, and Sara laughed.

"I like you. And I think you'd be surprised by how many things we have in common."

**Don't forget to let me know what you thought! **

**Love you all :)**


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